A  LETTER 


PAM, 

AFTtICA 

\ 

FROM 


THE  REV.  JOHN  PHILIP,  D.  D. 


SUPERINTENDENT  OF  THE  MISSIONS  OF  THE  LONDON  SOCIETY 


AT  THE 


CAPE  OF  GOOD  HOPE,  &c. 


TO  THE 


SOCIETY  OF  INQUIRY  ON  MISSIONS, 


IN  THE 


THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  PRINCETON, 


]V  E  W  "JERSEY# 


PRINCETON: 

PRINTED  BY  JOHN  GRAY. 

1833. 


c 


V 


ADVERTISEMENT. 


As  the  following-  interesting  communication  from  the  Rev.  Doct. 
Philip,  to  “  the  Society  of  Inquiry  on  Missions,  in  the  Theological  Semi¬ 
nary  at  Princeton,  N.  J.”  may  fall  into  the  hands  of  some  persons  who 
may  not  be  acquainted  with  the  nature  and  object  of  this  Society,  I  beg 
leave  to  state  for  the  satisfaction  of  such,  that  it  has  existed  from  an  early 
period  of  the  history  of  the  Seminary.  The  plan  was  borrowed,  I  be¬ 
lieve,  from  a  similar  institution  in  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Andover. 
It  is  a  Society  which  originated  with  the  students,  and  has  been  kept  up 
for  nearly  twenty  years,  by  their  voluntary  association  ;  and  the  whole 
business  is  conducted  without  any  interference  of  the  professors. 

The  Society  of  Inquiry  holds  its  regular  meetings  on  the  first  day  of 
each  month,  during  term-time ;  except,  when  the  month  begins  on  the 
Lord’s  day,  in  which  case  the  meeting  is  held  on  the  following  day. 

The  object  of  this  Society,  as  its  name  imports,  is  to  collect  missionary 
intelligence  from  all  quarters,  and  to  promote  a  spirit  oi  missions  among 
the  members.  In  pursuance  of  this  object,  a  correspondence  has  been 
opened  with  foreign  missionaries  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  and  an  inter¬ 
course  by  letters  is  kept  up  with  other  similar  societies,  in  this  country 
and  Europe.  This  correspondence  has  been  increasing  in  interest,  every 
year,  and  has  been  the  vehicle  through  which  much  important  intelli¬ 
gence  has  been  obtained,  and  communicated  to  the  Christian  public  ;  of 
which  the  following  communication  from  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  is  a 
striking  example. 

It  may  not  be  improper  for  me  to  observe,  that,  in  my  opinion,  no  part 
of  the  exercises  in  the  Theological  Seminary  has  been  attended  with 
more  manifest  good  effect  than  those  which  appertain  to  the  proceedings 
of  this  Society  :  and  there  can  be  little  doubt,  that  some  of  those  who  are 
now  labouring  successfully  among  the  heathen,  received  their  first  mis¬ 
sionary  impulse  from  the  ideas  suggested,  the  intelligence  received,  and 
the  solemn  scenes,  which  they  here  witnessed:  and  when  the  thoughts  of 
those  who  have  been  removed  for  years  from  the  place  of  their  Theolo¬ 
gical  education,  revisit  these  sacred  walls,  there  is  probably  nothing 
which  is  remembered  with  deeper  interest,  than  the  transactions  of  the 
first  day  of  the  month. 

It  will  scarcely  be  necessary  for  me  to  state,  that  the  Rev.  Dr.  Philip, 
the  author  of  the  following  deeply  interesting  communication,  is  an 
able  and  distinguished  minister  of  the  gospel,  who  has  resided  for  many 
years  in  South  Africa  ;  and  is  the  Superintendent  of  all  the  missionary 
stations  in  that  region,  which  are  in  connexion  with  the  London  Mis¬ 
sionary  Society.  Dr.  Philip  has,  in  a  particular  manner,  distinguished 
himself  as  the  able  advocate  and  undaunted  defender  of  the  interests  of 


ADVERTISEMENT. 


rw 

the  Aborigines  of  South  Africa,  against  the  oppressive  measures  of  the 
government  and  people,  of  the  European  colony,  at  the  Cape.  In  con¬ 
sequence  of  some  publications  in  which  the  cruel  treatment  of  these  peo¬ 
ple  by  the  colonial  government  was  laid  before  the  British  public,  he  was 
subjected  to  a  legal  prosecution,  and  to  a  heavy  pecuniary  mulct.  It  is 
believed,  however,  that  by  the  generosity  of  his  friends  in  England,  he 
was  relieved  from  the  embarrassment  which  this  fine  must  have  produced 
in  his  affairs.  He  is  evidently  a  man  of  talents,  possessing  a  bold,  ener¬ 
getic  mind,  and  highly  qualified  for  the  arduous  station  which  he  occu¬ 
pies.  During  the  last  year,  as  appears  from  the  letter  now  published,  he 
employed  no  less  than  seven  months  in  a  visitation  of  all  the  missionary 
stations  in  South  Africa  which  are  connected  with  the  London  Missionary 
Society.  His  opinions  and  suggestions  respecting  missions  to  the  conti¬ 
nent  of  Africa,  contained  in  this  paper,  are  highly  deserving  of  attention 
as  being  the  result  of  much  experience,  at  this  time,  when  the  attention 
of  the  Christian  public  is  so  particularly  directed  to  that  continent,  and  is 
occupied  with  plans  of  colonization,  and  of  missionary  establishments  in 
that  dark  region. 


Princeton,  N.  J.  Sept.  7,  1833. 


A.  ALEXANDER. 


A  LETTER,  &c. 


Cape.  Town ,  ( Cape  of  Good  Hope,)  May  2d,  1833. 

My  dear  sir* - 

I  deeply  regret  that  it  has  not  been  in  my  power  to  give  you  a  more 
early  reply  to  your  very  interesting  communication  of  16th  March,  1832.  On 
the  15th  of  August,  last  year,  I  left  Cape  Town  to  visit  our  missionary  stations 
in  the  interior.  My  tour  occupied  me  nearly  seven  months,  and  it  was  not  till 
towards  the  end  of  that  period,  your  letter  reached  me.  I  am  much  delighted 
with  the  object  of  your  society.  It  is  long  since  I  considered  such  a  society  a 
desideratum  in  Europe,  and  without  knowing  that  such  a  society  existed  in 
America,  I  endeavoured  some  years  ago  to  get  a  similar  one  formed  in  England, 
but  I  was  unsuccessful  in  my  attempts.  I  augur  much  good  to  the  cause  of  mis¬ 
sions  over  the  world  from  the  establishment  of  such  a  society  in  America,  and 
from  the  spirit  in  which  it  appears  to  be  conducted.  I  have  had  many  letters 
from  Europe,  inquiring  as  to  the  success  with  which  our  missionary  labours 
have  been  attended,  but  your  letter  is  the  first  I  have  seen  confessing  ignorance  as 
to  the  manner  in  which  such  labours  should  be  conducted,  and  at  the  same  time 
praying  for  information  on  the  subject.  The  most  painful  trial  I  experienced  on 
my  late  visit  to  England  was,  that  I  found  that  on  this  subject  I  could  not 
make  myself  understood.  This  state  of  mind  at  home  has  been  attended  with 
the  most  pernicious  effects  upon  our  foreign  missions;  and  till  the  evil  is  remov¬ 
ed,  our  success  will  be  far  from  bearing  a  proportion  to  the  means,  which  will 
be  expended  on  the  object  we  have  in  view.  Nothing  can  be  more  dissimilar 
than  the  state  of  things  in  Africa  and  in  England ;  and  yet  the  generality  of  the 
friends  of  missions  in  England  have  no  idea  that  African  missions  are  any  thing 
different  in  their  nature  from  their  city  or  country  missions  at  home.  The  con¬ 
sequences  of  this  error  have  been  and  are  highly  prejudicial ;  and  it  will  be  no 
small  satisfaction  to  me,  if  I  can,  by  any  thing  I  may  be  able  to  communicate  to 
you,  guard  the  friends  of  missions  in  America  against  so  fatal  a  mistake.  For 
the  sake  of  brevity  in  my  reply  to  the  queries  contained  in  your  letter,  I  shall 
answer  them  as  they  occur  to  my  mind  while  I  am  writing,  without  naming 
them. 

So  far  as  my  observation  extends,  it  appears  to  me  that  the  natural  capacity  of 
the  African  is  nothing  inferior  to  that  of  the  European.  At  our  schools,  the 
children  of  Hottentots,  of  Bushmen,  of  Caffers,  and  Bechuanas,  are  in  no  respect 
behind  the  children  of  European  parents  :  and  the  people  at  our  missionary  sta¬ 
tions  are  in  many  instances  superior  in  intelligence  to  those  who  look  down  upon 
them,  as  belonging  to  an  inferior  caste.  The  natives  beyond  the  colony  live  in 
a  world  of  their  own,  and  they  know  little  of  our  world,  but  we  know  less  of 
theirs  than  they  do  of  ours.  In  point  of  abilities  and  good  feelings,  I  consider 
the  Caffers  on  the  borders  of  the  colony  as  most  decidedly  superior  to  that  por¬ 
tion  of  the  refuse  of  English  society  that  find  their  way  to  this  country.  I 

*  The  letter  was  addressed  to  Mr.  John  B.  Pinney,  who  had  written  in  the  name  of  the  Society, 
and  who  was  then  contemplating  an  exploring  tour  to  Africa.  He  has  since  visited  Liberia  and 
the  adjacent  country  as  a  missionary  of  the  Western  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  and  is  now  in 
this  country,  making  arrangements  fora  permanent  settlement  there. 


have  never  seen  any  thing  in  civilized  society  like  the  faculty  those  people  have 
in  discerning  the  spirit  and  character  of  men.  When  Englishmen  go  among 
them,  they  will  discover  more  of  their  visitors  in  a  few  minutes  than  some  of 
their  own  countrymen  may  have  been  able  to  find  out  in  them  by  an  acquaint¬ 
ance  of  years.  We  have  at  this  moment  a  young  Caffer  Chief  at  one  of  our 
missionary  stations,  who  is  vindicating  the  character  of  his  countrymen,  and  ex¬ 
posing  the  cruelty  and  injustice  with  which  they  have  been  treated,  in  our  pub¬ 
lic  journals,  with  an  ability  superior  to  that  of  any  of  his  numerous  and  virulent 
assailants  within  the  colony.  Contemplated  through  the  medium  of  their  own 
superstitions,  or  that  of  their  general  condition,  we  might  hastily  pronounce  them 
to  be  inferior  to  the  white  race;  but  on  those  points  they  lose  nothing  by  a  com¬ 
parison  with  our  own  European  ancestors. 

From  the  peninsula  on  which  Cape  Town  stands,  in  S.  lat.  34,  to  De  la  Goa 
Bay,  which  is  in  S.  lat.  26,  and  from  the  eastern  to  the  western  coast,  the  people 
in  this  country  are  anxious  to  have  missionaries.  During  my  last  journey  I  had 
people  who  came  four  and  five  days  journey  to  request  me  to  send  them  mission¬ 
aries.  We  cannot  suppose  for  a  moment  that  this  desire  to  have  missionaries 
among  the  savage  and  barbarous  tribes  of  South  Africa,  arises  from  any  sym¬ 
pathy  which  they  can  have  with  us  in  the  great  end  of  our  missionary  labours, 
the  conversion  of  the  heathen  to  God,  and  the  salvation  of  their  souls.  This 
would  suppose  a  state  of  sociely  among  the  ignorant  heathen  of  which  we  have 
hitherto  had  no  example  in  the  history  of  the  human  race.  But  it  shows  that 
the  missionaries,  wherever  they  settle,  impart  certain  advantages  to  those  among 
whom  they  labour,  that  those  around  them  can  appreciate :  and  for  this  reason, 
among  others,  they  become  valuable  auxiliaries  to  us,  inasmuch  as  they  soften 
down  the  prejudices  of  the  heathen  against  the  truth  and  doctrines  of  Christian¬ 
ity,  and  procure  for  us  a  favourable  reception  and  hearing.  On  one  of  my  jour¬ 
neys  into  the  interior  of  Africa,  I  met  with  one  tribe  of  Korannas,  which  had 
been  three  weeks  on  the  road,  by  which  I  was  to  pass,  expecting  me,  to  request 
me  to  send  them  missionaries.  When  they  understood  I  could  not  then  send 
them  a  missionary,  they  requested  me  to  send  them  an  instructed  native  from 
one  of  the  missionary  stations;  that  by  his  superior  advantages  they  might  be  se¬ 
cured  against  the  frauds  and  impositions  practised  upon  them  by  the  tradersfrom 
the  Colony.  Inquiring  as  to  the  office  or  station  such  a  person  would  be  called  by 
them  to  fill,  they  replied  that  they  would  make  him  a  chief.  On  the  ground 
that  their  chieftainships  were  hereditary,  and  descended  from  father  to  son,  I 
asked  them  how  they  could  raise  a  person  of  no  family  to  that  rank.  Their  an¬ 
swer  was  curious  and  amusing.  To  get  over  this  difficulty  they  proposed  that 
the  stranger  should  be  married  to  a  daughter  of  their  chief.  According  to  their 
usages,  it  appeared  that  a  connexion  with  one  of  their  great  families  conferred 
the  rank  of  a  son  upon  a  son-in-law ;  and  it  was  very  gravely  added,  that  by  this 
means,  and  the  approbation  of  the  counsellors  and  the  people,  the  stranger  would 
have  a  preference  granted  to  him  above  any  other  member  of  the  chiefs  family. 

About  fifteen  days  journey  N.  E.  from  our  missionary  station  at  Philippolis,  on 
the  Great  River,  there  is  a  tribe  of  Bechuanas,  that  have  been  very  much  ha¬ 
rassed  of  late  years  by  a  plundering  horde  of  Korannas,  who  have  been  very 
much  corrupted  by  the  Colonial  Traders,  who  have  been  in  the  habit  of  sup¬ 
plying  them  with  brandy,  guns  and  gunpowder,  which  they  have  received  in 
exchange  for  the  cattle  they  have  stolen  from  the  more  remote  and  defenceless 
tribes.  This  Bechuana  tribe  had  never  been  visited  by  a  missionary ;  but  they 
had  heard  of  our  missionary  stations  among  the  Griquas  from  their  country¬ 
men,  who  had  found  protection  at  them,  and  the  chief  set  out  on  a  journey  to 
find  out  Dr.  Philip,  taking  a  thousand  head  of  cattle  with  him  to  purchase  a  mis¬ 
sionary.  Shortly  after  this  event  he  was  visited  by  a  respectable  man  from  Phi¬ 
lippolis,  to  whom  he  related  the  above  circumstance,  and  that  his  old  enemies, 
the  Korannas  met  him  on  the  road,  and  robbed  him  of  his  cattle.  What  this 
chiefs  motives  were,  in  being  so  desirous  to  have  a  missionary,  I  cannot  pre- 


7 


cisely  state,  but  it  was  stated  by  the  individual  to  whom  he  related  the  cir¬ 
cumstance,  that  he  entreated  him  very  much  to  procure  a  missionary  for  him; 
and  he  added,  that  if  he  did  not  send  him  a  missionary,  that  the  next  time  he 
came  to  see  him  he  would  detain  him,  and  make  him  his  missionary. 

The  natives  can  scarcely  be  said  to  have  any  religion  among  them.  They 
have  no  Priests  nor  Temples,  nor  any  form  of  religious  worship  to  oppose  Chris¬ 
tianity.  But  they  have  sorcerers,  and  rain-makers,  and  they  are  believers  in 
witchcraft.  The  chief  difficulties  the  missionaries  have  to  contend  against  in 
their  endeavours  to  bring  them  over  to  the  truth  of  the  Bible,  are — their  igno¬ 
rance,  their  superstitions,  and  the  plurality  of  wives  which  obtains  among  them. 
I  have  never  been  able  to  learn  that  they  had  any  notions  of  a  future  state, 
which  they  have  not  derived  from  the  missionaries.  The  resurrection  of  the 
body  is  a  truth  as  strange  to  them  when  first  brought  to  their  ears,  as  it  was  to 
the  polite  Athenians;  and  they  have  no  idea  of  any  man  dying  except  by  the 
following  causes — hunger,  the  sword,  or  by  witchcraft.  Speaking  to  a  Caffer 
chief  one  day  upon  the  second  coming  of  Christ,  turning  suddenly  round,  he 
asked — “  Where  is  the  promise  of  his  coming  ?”  He  at  the  same  time  enume¬ 
rated  his  ancestors  for  thirteen  generations,  naming  each  of  them:  and  added — 
“  Do  we  not  see  that  since  the  fathers  fell  asleep  all  things  continue  as  they 
were  ?” 

So  far  as  the  success  of  our  labours  in  South  Africa  is  concerned,  I  shall  as 
much  as  possible  allow  the  facts  to  speak  for  themselves.  For  the  state  of  the 
Hottentots  before  the  missions  of  the  London  Missionary  Society  commenced 
among  them,  I  must  refer  you  to  the  Transactions  of  the  London  Missionary 
Society,  Barrow’s  Travels,  and  my  “  Researches,"  published  when  I  was  lately 
in  England,  pleading  the  cause  of  the  Hottentots. 

Till  the  missions  commenced,  nothing  had  been  done  in  South  Africa  for  the 
improvement  of  the  coloured  population;  and  the  shortest  and  best  view  that  can 
perhaps  be  given  of  the  beneficial  effects  of  the  missions  upon  the  Hottentots, 
may  be  given  in  the  words  of  a  Hottentot  belonging  to  the  Missionary  Institu¬ 
tion  of  Bethelsdorp,  in  reply  to  the  question  put  to  him  by  I.  T.  Brigge,  Esq. 
and  Major  Colebrooke — “  What  have  the  missionaries  done  for  the  Hottentots?” 
The  name  of  the  Hottentot  to  whom  the  question  was  put  was  Jantjes  Spielman  ; 
and  to  the  above  question  his  reply  was — “  What  have  the  missionaries  done 
for  the  Hottentots? — When  the  missionaries  came  among  us  we  had  no  clothing 
but  the  filthy  sheep  skin  kaross  ;  now  we  are  clothed  in  British  manufactures. 
We  were  without  letters ;  now  we  can  read  our  Bibles  or  hear  them  read  to  us. 
We  were  without  any  religion ;  now  we  worship  God  in  our  families.  We  were 
without  morals ;  now  every  man  has  his  own  wife.  We  were  given  up  to  licen¬ 
tiousness  and  drunkenness ;  now  we  have  among  us  industry  and  sobriety.  We 
were  without  property;  now  the  Hottentots  at  Bethelsdorp  are  in  possession  of 
fifty  wagons  and  a  corresponding  number  of  cattle.  We  were  liable  to  be  shot 
like  wild  beasts;  and  the  missionaries  stood  between  us  and  the  bullets  of  our 
enemies."  Were  the  same  question  to  be  asked  the  same  person  or  any  other 
Hottentot  now,  he  might  greatly  enlarge  the  catalogue.  At  that  period  the 
Hottentots  and  free  people  of  colour  had  no  protection  except  at  the  missionary 
institutions ;  and  even  there,  in  spite  of  the  efforts  of  the  missionaries,  they  were 
subject  to  the  most  cruel  oppressions  from  the  local  authorities  of  the  colony. — 
The  condition  of  the  Hottentots  in  general  was  much  worse  than  that  of  the 
slaves.  They  were  obliged  to  be  in  service  ;  the  local  authorities  of  the  district 
in  which  they  resided,  had  their  services  at  their  disposal.  They  were  a  kind 
of  perquisite  of  office;  they  might  give  them  to  whom  they  pleased;  under  the 
pretext  of  providing  for  their  children,  they  could  take  them  from  their  parents, 
and  give  them  away  to  any  one  they  chose  for  ten  or  15  years.  They  could  not 
appear  in  any  place  at  a  distance  from  their  master’s  premises  without  a  pass, 
and  not  be  liable  to  be  apprehended  and  punished ;  and  they  were  liable  to  all 


8 


the  degrading  punishments  to  which  the  slaves  were  subjected,  without  any  of 
those  securities  against  cruel  treatment  which  the  slave  has,  in  the  interest  his 
master  has  in  him.  From  the  struggle  we  have  had  to  sustain,  in  our  attempts 
to  protect  the  Hottentots  from  the  cruel  oppressions  to  which  they  were  exposed, 
the  Hottentots,  and  indeed  all  the  people  of  colour  within  the  colony  (the  slaves 
excepted,)  are  now  under  the  protection  of  the  same  laws  with  the  other  inha¬ 
bitants  of  the  colony,  whether  Dutch  or  English. 

The  missionary  institutions  belonging  to  the  London  Missionary  Society 
within  the  colony  are, — Caledon  Institution,  Pacaltsdorp,  Hankey,  Bethelsdorp 
and  Theopolis.  And  what  has  been  said  of  the  change  effected  upon  the  Hot¬ 
tentots  at  Bethelsdorp,  is  applicable  to  all  of  them.  Besides  the  missionary  in¬ 
stitutions,  we  have  missionaries  for  the  white  people  and  people  of  colour  at  the 
following  towns — Paarl,  Port  Elizabeth,  Uitenhage,  Grahanrs  Town,  and 
Graaf  Reinet.  To  the  above  enumeration  we  may  add  the  new  territory  called 
the  Kat  River.  But  of  this  interesting  settlement,  and  of  the  success  of  our  la¬ 
bours  among  the  people,  I  shall  have  occasion  to  speak  more  fully,  when  I  come 
to  speak  of  the  importance  of  a  Native  Agency.  To  our  missionary  stations 
within  the  colony  we  must  also  add  Ivomaggas  and  Steinkopff,  on  the  western 
coast  of  Africa,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Orange  or  Great  River.  Of  these  two 
stations  I  shall  have  occasion  to  speak  when  I  come  to  notice  the  principle  on 
which  missionary  stations  should  be  selected.  Our  missionary  stations  in'  Caf- 
fraria,  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  colony,  are  Macoma’s  Kraal  and  Buffalo  River. 
On  the  N.  and  N.  E.  side  of  the  colony  they  are — the  Bushman  station  on  the 
Caledon  River,  Philippolis,  Campbell,  Griqua  Town,  and  Kuruman,  or  Lat- 
takoo.  The  Griqua  mission  includes  Philippolis,  Campbell,  and  Griqua 
Town. 

Our  missions  among  the  Griquas  present  at  this  moment  a  scene  of  very  deep 
interest.  When  Mr.  Anderson  began  his  mission  among  that  people,  they  were 
in  as  bad  a  state  as  the  Hottentots  when  Dr.  Vanderkemp  began  his  labours 
among  them.  He  wandered  about  with  them  five  years  before  he  saw  any  fruit 
of  his  labours,  or  could  prevail  upon  them  to  lay  aside  their  wandering  habits, 
and  locate  themselves  in  the  country  where  they  are  now  settled.  Their  history 
is  a  very  interesting  one,  and  full  of  instruction  to  missionaries  and  missionary 
societies:  but  I  cannot  do  more  than  notice  a  single  feature  or  two  of  it  at  pre¬ 
sent.  This  people  may  be  about  4000  in  number :  they  are  governed  by  the 
chiefs  of  Campbell,  of  Philippolis,  and  of  Griqua  Town :  they  are  situated  on  the 
northern  bank  of  the  Great  River;  their  territory  extends  about  250  or  300 
miles  in  length  by  140  miles  in  breadth;  and  they  have  under  their  protection 
and  subject  to  them  5000  Korannas,  1000  Bushmen,  and  perhaps  25,000  Bechu- 
anas.  The  Korannas  fear  them,  and  acknowledge  their  superiority  ;  and  the 
Bushmen  and  Bechuanas  look  to  them  for  protection.  The  greater  part  of  the 
Bechuanas  who  are  living  under  their  protection,  are  the  Bechuanas  who  were 
plundered  of  their  cattle  by  those  people  to  whom  I  have  already  adverted,  as  hav¬ 
ing  been  excited  to  these  deeds  of  mischief  by  the  colonial  traders  and  others, 
who  have  been  in  the  habit  of  furnishing  them  with  brandy,  &c.  in  exchange 
for  their  stolen  cattle. 

At  the  Missionary  station  at  Philippolis  these  people  (the  Griquas)  have 
35,000  sheep,  3,000  head  of  oxen,  and  500  horses.  On  the  last  two  Sabbaths  I 
spent  at  that  station,  a  place  of  worship  that  contains  nearly  500  people  was 
very  well  filled;  the  people  were  as  well  dressed  as  any  country  congregation  I 
have  seen  within  the  colony ;  and  there  were  32  family  wagons  at  the  church 
doors.  Andreas  Waterboer,  the  chief  of  Griqua  Town,  is  a  very  superior  man; 
he  is  truly  pious  and  very  activ*e ;  and  the  cause  is  in  a  very  flourishing  state  at 
that  station.  Ever  since  the  Griqua  mission  commenced,  the  Griquas  have 
been  the  bulwark  of  the  colony  on  the  northern  and  north-eastern  frontier :  and 
they  have  saved  the  colonial  government  the  expense  of  at  least  500  soldiers  ; 


9 


they  would  have  been  obliged  to  employ  them  to  protect  that  part  of  the  colony, 
but  for  the  Griquas.  All  the  sensible  part  of  the  Boers  acknowledge  that  they 
could  not  enjoy  a  sound  night’s  sleep  if  it  were  not  for  the  Griquas,  who  they 
consider  as  placed  between  them  and  danger.  On  my  late  journey  I  was  empow¬ 
ered  by  the  Griquas  to  solicit  that  their  country  should  be  taken  within  the  co¬ 
lony.  They  have  rendered  the  greatest  services  to  the  colony;  they  are  at  this 
moment  of  the  greatest  importance  to  the  colony,  as  the  peace  and  order  of  that 
part  of  the  frontier  is  dependent  upon  them.  They  are  willing  to  pay  taxes  like 
the  other  colonists,  and  to  be  subject  to  the  laws  of  the  colony  as  they  are,  on 
the  ground  that  their  lands  are  secured  to  them.  Andyet  I  am  sorry  to  say  that 
the  colonial  government  declines  the  proposal.  There  are  many  here  that  would 
rather  destroy  the  people  and  take  their  country,  than  see  them  under  colonial 
laws,  and  their  country  forming  a  part  of  the  colony.  It  is  not  long  since  a  pe¬ 
tition  signed  by  1800  Boers  was  sent  to  the  colonial  government,  requesting  the 
government  to  put  them  in  possession  of  the'  Griqua  country  about  Philippolis. 
The  Griqua  country  has  as  good  a  right  to  be  considered  a  Christian  country  as 
the  colony  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope;  and  we  see  here  by  the  labours  of  our 
missionaries  a  new  country  brought  within  the  pale  of  Christianity.  In  the 
success  of  the  gospel  and  the  efficacy  of  our  schools  among  the  Griquas,  we  see 
what  we  owe  to  Christianity ;  and  how  the  gospel  spread  in  past  ages  over  the 
nations  of  Europe.  The  Griquas  at  the  commencement  of  our  missions  among 
them  were  as  ignorant  and  defenceless  as  the  Korannas,  the  Bushmen,  and 
the  Bechuanas  around  them,  and  under  their  protection,  and  such  is  the  condition 
to  which  this  handful  of  people  have  been  raised  by  the  elevating  influence  of 
Christian  doctrine  and  Christian  education,  that  while  the  people  under  their 
protection  are  perhaps  five  times  their  own  number,  their  strength  and  courage  and 
discipline  is  an  occasion  of  jealousy  with  the  colonists,  while  they  are  at  the 
same  time  its  defence  along  a  frontier  about  300  miles  in  extent. 

Thisstatement  will  show  you  that  we  are  not  to  estimate  the  success  of  the 
labours  of  our  missionaries  by  the  numbers  that  are  received  into  Christian  fel¬ 
lowship  at  our  missionary  stations.  The  principles  upon  which  our  missionaries 
go,  in  their  admission  of  converts  from  among  the  heathen  to  the  Lord’s  Table, 
exclude  a  large  proportion  from  that  ordinance  that  would  be  received  under 
another  system.  There  are  not  perhaps  150  Griquas  who  are  admitted  to  the 
Lord’s  Supper  ;  and  yet  the  whole  of  the  people  bearing  that  designation,  to  the 
amount  of  4000,  have  renounced  polygamy,  bear  the  Christian  name,  and  disco¬ 
ver  an  acquaintance  with  Christianity,  and  have  generally  speaking  an  out¬ 
ward  conduct  not  less  worthy  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ  than  any  portion  of  an 
English  or  Scotch  peasantry  of  the  same  extent,  in  any  of  the  most  favoured 
parts  of  Scotland  or  England  with  which  1  am  acquainted. 

Whatever  may  be  said  in  favour  of  strictness  in  the  admission  of  members  to 
the  Lord’s  Table  in  England  or  America,  has  with  us  a  double  weight.  The 
heathen  have  scarcely  any  other  method  to  enable  them  to  judge  of  the  nature 
of  genuine  religion,  if  the  criterion  which  arises  from  the  Christian  character 
in  those  we  receive  as  fellow  Christians  from  among  themselves,  is  taken  from 
them.  This  is  a  standard  they  can  appreciate  and  feel,  if  they  are  incapable  of 
understanding  or  feeling  any  thing  else  that  may  be  said  to  them  on  the 
subject. 

The  great  body  of  the  Bechuanas  in  the  Griqua  country  we  have  not  yet 
been  able  to  do  much  for  :  but  something  is  doing  for  them  at  Griqua  Town. 
About  16  of  them  have  lately  made  a  credible  profession  of  the  truth,  and  have 
been  received  into  the  churoh  at  that  station. 

The  Kuruman,  or  Lattakoo,  is  the  only  mission  we  have  in  what  is  properly 
speaking  the  Bechuana  country.  Mr.  Moffat  and  his  fellow  labourers  had  to 
wait  long  for  any  appearance  of  fruit :  but  the  Lord  has  been  pleased  of  late 

B 


10 


to  bless  their  labours,  and  a  church  consisting  of  about  24  members  has  been  re¬ 
cently  formed.  The  Kuruman  is  about  40  miles  south  of  what  is  called  Old 
Lattakoo,  and  about  8  or  9  miles  from  New  Lattakoo,  the  place  to  which 
Mateebe  removed  for  greater  security  from  the  invasion  of  the  Mantatees.  It 
was  chosen  on  account  of  a  fine  stream  of  water,  which  the  missionaries  have 
by  great  labour  turned  to  account,  by  employing  it  for  the  purpose  of  irrigating 
the  valley  through  which  it.  flows.  By  going  to  reside  in  this  valley,  the 
missionaries  separated  themselves  in  a  measure  from  the  great  body  of  the 
tribe  among  whom  they  were  labouring :  but  it  was  expected  that  the  people 
would  all  follow  them,  and  take  up  their  residence  beside  them,  when  the  ad¬ 
vantages  of  the  situation  should  be  seen.  Owing  to  various  causes,  this  expecta¬ 
tion  has  not  been  fully  realized:  but  I  consider  the  missionaries  justified  in 
what  they  did  in  this  affair.  Perhaps  it  might  have  been  better,  if  like  An¬ 
derson  with  the  Griquas,  they  had  remained  with  the  chiefs  and  the  body  of 
the  people,  till  the  power  of  religion  had  been  felt  as  it  was  among  the  Griquas, 
befoiethey  had  decided  on  the  commencement  of  the  plan  on  which  they  acted. 

In  accordance  with  your  wishes  I  shall  now  attempt  to  give  you  a  brief  view 
of  the  Bechuana  country,  and  of  the  country  in  general  beyond  the  Colony, 
and  the  Griqua  country;  that  you  may  be  able  to  judge  how  far  it  may  present 
to  you  an  inviting  field  for  your  missionaries  to  assist  us  in  cultivating. 

When  Mr.  Campbell  visited  Lattakoo  and  the  country  beyond  it,  he  found 
the  country,  as  far  as  he  travelled,  inhabited  by  8  or  9  separate  tribes  bearing 
the  general  designation  of  Bechuanas.  For  any  particulars  as  to  the  state 
of  the  Bechuanas  at  that  period,  I  must  refer  you  to  Mr.  Campbell’s  journals, 
including  both  tours.  Till  1823  those  tribes,  speaking  the  same  language 
and  having  the  same  customs,  appear  to  have  been  possessors  of  the  country 
they  then  inhabited,  from  a  period  so  remote  that  they  had  no  tradition  among 
them  of  any  other  people  having  possessed  the  country  before  them.  They  had 
never  had  the  Christian  volume  to  expand  their  minds;  and  any  knowledge 
they  had  of  Divine  things  or  of  science  was  indigenous.  The  state  of  civili¬ 
zation  among  them  accorded  with  the  advantages  and  disadvantages  of  their 
situation,  and  had  arrived  at  that  pitch,  beyond  which  it  was  impossible  per¬ 
haps  in  their  circumstances  (supposing  them  to  have  remained  shut  out  from 
the  rest  of  the  world  as  they  then  were)  to  carry  it.  On  the  south  they  had 
the  Bushman  country,  the  Korannas  and  the  Great  River,  and  the  Griquas, 
between  them  and  the  Colony  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  On  the  West  be¬ 
tween  them  and  the  coast  by  the  great  Calagary  desert.  On  their  northern 
boundary  lies  a  great  lake  which  they  describe  as  unknown  as  to  its  extent, 
and  having  waves  like  the  sea.  And  on  the  south  and  south-east  lie  the  Zoo- 
lahs,  a  people  we  shall  soon  have  occasion  to  notice  more  particularly.  To 
strangers  this  people  were  always  remarked  as  kind  and  hospitable;  the  re¬ 
ception  our  missionaries  have  received  from  them  gives  a  favourable  view  of 
their  character:  and  the  French  Missionaries,  Lemue,  Rolland,  and  Pelissier, 
who  lately  went  to  settle  among  the  Baharutsi,  a  tribe  of  Bechuanas  who  re¬ 
sided  about  15  days  journey  south-east  of  Lattakoo,  spoke  of  the  prospect  of 
their  mission  in  very  flattering  terms.  Respecting  the  vices  and  virtues  of 
this  people  I  cannot  at  present  say  much;  but  with  the  vices  common  to 
people  in  their  circumstances  they  had  many  good  points,  which  I  cannot  now 
dwell  upon,  in  their  general  character.  Like  other  nations  or  tribes  in  Africa 
they  had  their  wars  among  themselves;  but  their  wars  appear  to  have  been 
carried  on  with  very  little  bloodshed.  In  their  battles  they  never  came  to 
close  quarters;  and  in  stealing  cattle  from  each  other,  they  depended  more  upon 
their  dexterity  in  thieving  than  upon  their  courage  in  open  conflict.  In  1823 
the  country  of  this  people  was  invaded  by  a  nation,  who  to  the  number  of  per¬ 
haps  80,000,  was  precipitated  upon  them  en  masse,  and  who  bore  down  every 
thing  before  them,  and  moved  onward  till  they  were  met  by  the  Griquas  be- 


longing  to  our  missionary  station,  by  whom  they  were  repelled  and  driven 
back.  When  this  people  first  made  their  appearance  in  the  Bechuana  country, 
it  was  unknown  from  whence  they  proceeded:  but  we  have  since  then  become 
acquainted  with  their  history,  and  we  have  found  that  they  proceeded,  not  from 
the  north,  as  was  then  supposed,  but  fromthesouth  and  southeast ;  and  that  when 
they  came  into  the  Bechuana  country  they  were  retreating  before  Dingaan,  a 
powerful  Zoolah  Chief,  who  exercises  his  authority  over  (he  eastern  coast  of 
Africa  from  Port  Natal  to  De  la  Goa  Bay. 

The  people  called  Zoolahs  are  subject  to  two  powerful  chiefs,  Dingaan  and 
Mosalekatsi.  Chaka,  the  late  brother  of  Dingaan,  appears  to  have  extended 
his  authority  over  all  the  other  chiefs  of  that  people. — But  on  the  death  of 
Mosalekatsi’s  father,  the  young  man  by  the  advice  of  his  counsellors  threw  off 
all  allegiance  to  Chaka :  and  so  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  obtain  information, 
the  territory  of  Mosalekatsi  appears  to  extend  from  behind  De  la  Goa  Bay,  to 
the  23d  or  22d  degree  of  latitude,  immediately  behind  the  Portuguese  territory 
in  that  quarter.  The  Zoolahs  are  originally  from  the  same  stock  with  the 
Bechuanas;  they  speak  the  same  language,  and  have  many  of  the  same  cus¬ 
toms;  but  they  resemble  their  brethren  the  Gaffers  on  the  eastern  frontier  of  the 
colony  more  than  the  tribes  farther  in  the  interior.  Like  the  Caffers  they  go 
naked,  and  they  are  the  most  warlike  and  courageous  people  we  have  heard  of 
in  Africa  in  modern  times.  Mosalekatsi  was  visited  by  Mr.  Moffat  and  Mr. 
Pellissier,  and  both  speak  of  him  as  an  extraordinary  man.  To  an  address  the 
most  mild  and  winning  he  unites  great  capacity  for  war,  great  ambition,  and 
like  many  other  ambitious  conquerors,  he  shows  none  of  that  weakness  which 
allows  any  feelings  of  compassion  to  come  between  him  and  the  attainment  of 
his  object.  His  mode  of  government  is  as  peculiar  as  any  other  feature  in  his 
character.  His  ambition  is  to  be  a  great  king,  he  has  32  African  kings  or 
chiefs  under  him.  When  he  subdues  a  nation  or  tribe,  he  takes  full  possession 
of  the  country,  and  divides  it  among  his  warriors.  The  old  people  he  generally 
destroys;  the  young  he  preserves  for  future  service;  the  boys  are  sent  to  his 
cattle  posts  or  military  camps  to  be  trained  up  for  war :  the  girls  he  disposes  of 
in  a  similar  manner,  to  be  kept  as  rewards  to  his  young  soldiers.  Every  acre 
of  land,  every  head  of  cattle,  and  every  man,  woman,  and  child  in  the  country 
are  the  property  of  the  king.  The  young  women  go  perfectly  naked  till  they 
are  given  in  marriage,  no  one  can  have  a  wife  till  the  king  is  pleased  to  give 
him  one;  before  marriage  no  intercourse  is  allowed  between  the  sexes;  to 
attempt  the  chastity  of  a  young  woman  is  to  incur  the  penalty  of  death,  and  to 
be  accused  is  to  be  found  guilty.  The  young  men  are  allowed  to  see  the 
}roung  women,  but  that  is  all ;  and  when  they  are  exhibited  to  them  before  they 
go  out  to  battle,  they  are  reminded  that  those  are  the  rewards  that  Mosalekatsi 
confers  upon  the  brave.  No  young  man  can  have  a  wife  from  the  king  till  he 
has  distinguished  himself  in  battle  ;  and  when  he  receives  a  wife  from  the  hand 
of  the  king,  he  has  cattle  and  land  allowed  him  with  her  as  her  dowry. 
Every  subsequent  display  of  courage  in  battle  is  rewarded  with  an  additional 
wife,  and  an  addition  of  cattle.  With  some  little  variation  the  same  practice  is 
said  to  obtain  among  the  Zoolahs  under  Dingaan.  Whether  the  Zoolahs  have 
improved  upon  the  Mahomedan  paradise,  or  whether  Mahomed  borrowed  his 
idea  on  that  subject  from  the  ancestors  of  the  Zoolahs,  it  may  be  difficult  to 
determine,  but  the  Zoolah  chiefs,  particularly  Mosalekatsi,  exhibit  the  system 
in  greater  perfection  than  it  was  in  the  mind  or  the  power  of  Mahomed  to  show 
its  workings.  The  false  prophet  promised  his  followers  their  paradise  beyond 
the  grave,  but  Mosalekatsi  holds  it  up  to  them  as  a  reward  which  they  are  to  en¬ 
joy  in  the  present  life.  To  the  most  powerful  motive  that  any  tyrant  could  place 
before  the  human  mind  in  the  embruted  state  of  human  nature  as  it  is  found 
without  religion,  Mosalekatsi  adds  another,  as  terrible  by  its  restraining,  as  the 


one  we  have  noticed  is  in  its  impelling  force.  He  allows  none  of  his  soldiers 
to  desert  his  post,  he  must  conquer  or  die. 

Last  year  the  soldiers  of  this  tyrant  invaded  the  Bechuana  country  ;  and  the 
unwarlike  Bechuanas  fell  before  them  like  sheep  under  the  knife  of  the  butcher* 
The  whole  of  the  Bechuana  has  been  desolated  as  far  as  Lattakoo,  which  is 
yet  untouched;  and  the  people  of  Mosalekatsi  possess  the  country.  When  I 
arrived  at  Lattakoo  on  my  late  journey,  I  found  the  people,  subjects  of  Mahuri, 
and  the  remains  of  the  Barolongs  and  the  Baharutsi,  who  had  escaped  the  slaugh¬ 
ter  of  Mosalekatsi’s  bands,  in  the  most  distressing  situation.  The  remains  of  the 
destroyed  tribes  were  suffering  by  famine,  and  the  whole  of  the  people  were  (to 
use  their  own  expression)  “like  dead  men,”  from  an  apprehension  that  they 
might  be  visited  by  Mosalekatsi  and  destroyed  the  next  hour,  as  the  other 
Bechuana  tribes  had  been.  I  had  intended  to  visit  Mosalekatsi:  but  although 
I  had  no  apprehension  as  to  my  own  personal  safety,  I  could  not  be  sure  that 
my  journey  would  protect  the  helpless  thousands  around  me,  who  were  looking 
to  me  for  assistance,  as  if  I  had  had  an  army  at  my  command.  After  com 
suiting  with  the  chiefs  and  the  French  missionaries,  who  had  retreated  to  this 
place  on  the  approach  of  Mosalekatsi,  I  returned  to  Griqua  Town,  accom¬ 
panied  by  Mr.  Lemue,  and  followed  by  the  chief  Mahuri,  to  consult  with 
Waterboer,  the  chief  of  Griqua  Town,  about  the  means  of  preserving  what  re¬ 
mained  of  this  people.  The  plan  formed  was,  that  they  should  all  fall  back 
to  the  number  of  perhaps  20,000,  on  the  territory  of  Waterboer,  that  he  might 
be  able  to  throw  his  shield  over  them,  should  they  be  attacked  by  Mosalekatsi. 

If  any  one  is  disposed  to  ask — What  has  Christianity  done  for  Europe?  or 
what  will  it  do  for  the  native  tribes  of  Africa?  we  refer  such  an  inquirer  to 
the  spectacle  now  before  us.  Before  the  Griquas  embraced  Christianity,  they 
were  as  helpless  as  the  Bechuanas;  and  such  is  the  difference  now  between  the 
Griquas  and  the  Bechuanas,  that  we  see  perhaps  30,000  Bechuanas  looking  up 
to  the  Christian  chief  of  Griqua  Town,  who  cannot  perhaps  muster  more  than 
200  horsemen,  as  their  sole  dependence  and  their  only  safeguard  against  the 
overwhelming  and  ferocious  band  of  Mosalekatsi. 

It  is  an  interesting  fact,  that  not  only  are  the  Korannas  and  Caffers  and  Be¬ 
chuanas  in  the  country  around  the  Colony  desirous  of  having  missionaries 
with  them,  but  even  Dingaan  and  Mosalekatsi  unite  in  expressing  the  same  de¬ 
sire;  and  we  have  not  the  slightest  reason  to  suspect  that  missionaries  would  be 
less  safe  with  them  than  among  the  other  more  peaceable  tribes  around  us. 

The  Societies  now  in  operation  in  South  Africa,  cannot  do  any  thing 
efficiently  for  these  two  powerful  Chiefs  and  their  people.  And  on  this  ground 
should  the  churches  of  America  think  of  assisting  us  in  South  Africa,  I  would 
strongly  recommend  that  they  should  send  a  mission  to  them.  The  country  oc¬ 
cupied  by  Dingaan,  which  stretches  from  the  neighbourhood  of  De  la  Goa  Bay 
to  Port  Natal,  presents  a  noble  field  for  missionary  labour,  and  in  many  respects 
deserving  the  preference  to  any  other  field  of  labour  connected  with  the  south¬ 
ern  portion  of  the  African  continent.  From  the  fertility  of  the  land,  and  the 
contiguity  of  Port  Natal  and  De  la  Goa  Bay,  the  labours  of  efficient  missiona¬ 
ries  in  that  country  might  in  course  of  time  give  rise  to  a  civilized  community, 
which  might  be  of  the  greatest  importance  to  the  eastern  shores  of  this  continent. 

Some  years  ago  some  adventurers  from  the  eastern  part  of  the  co.lony,  visited 
Port  Natal  with  a  view  to  establish  themselves  there.  With  this  view  they  ob¬ 
tained  permission'from  Dingaan  to  locate  themselves  there ;  but  the  settlement 
has  not  yet  obtained  the  sanction  of  the  British  Government;  and  as  it  has  been 
hitherto  conducted,  it  is  more  likely  to  deteriorate  than  to  improve  the  natives. 
The  greatest  difficulty  which  missionaries  would  in  all  probability  have  to  en¬ 
counter,  would  be  from  the  vices  of  that  settlement.  Those  difficulties  do  not, 
however,  present  asufficient  barrier  todiscourage your  missionaries  from  engaging 


irt  this  undertaking.  American  ships  sometimes  touch  at  Port  Natal ;  and  any 
ship  passing  to  the  eastward  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  might  easily  land  them 
there.  Whatever  views  the  few  English  at  that  place  might  entertain  of  the 
object  of  the  missionaries,  they  would  not  offer  them  any  violence  ;  and  if  they 
could  not  do  them  any  good,  they  might  pass  on  from  them  to  the  chief,  who 
would  at  once  receive  them.  Dingaan  is  acquainted  with  the  power  and  cha¬ 
racter  of  the  American  nation.  Not  long  since  an  American  captain  made  him 
a  present  of  an  article  and  he  sent  it  to  the  English  settlers,  asking  them  if  the 
English  could  make  him  as  handsome  a  present.  There  is  now  a  communica¬ 
tion  by  land  between  this  colony  and  Port  Natal,  but  should  any  of  your  churches 
think  of  sending  missionaries  there,  I  would  recommend  in  preference  that  they 
should  go  immediately  there  by  water.  If  you  resolve  upon  a  mission  to  that 
country,  the  sooner  it  is  undertaken  the  better. 

To  give  you  any  estimate  of  the  population  of  this  country  I  find  very  diffi¬ 
cult.  The  Colony  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  is  very  thinly  peopled.  A  great 
part  of  it  is  covered  with  mountains  and  barren  plains;  but  the  taste  of  the 
people  for  grazing  farms  has  contributed  more  than  any  other  disadvantage  it 
labours  under,  to  keep  the  people  at  a  distance  from  each  other.  And  so  long 
as  they  are  allowed  to  spread  themselves,  taking  possession  of  the  territories  be¬ 
yond  them,  when  more  grazing  farms  are  required  for  their  children,  this  evil 
will  not  soon  be  remedied.  This  system  has  been  attended  with  the  most  bane¬ 
ful  effects  to  the  natives.  Deprived  of  their  country  and  of  the  means  of  sub¬ 
sistence  by  the  encroaching  spirit  of  the  colonists,  offences  on  their  part  were 
unavoidable,  and  those  offences  have  been  too  frequently  followed  by  extermina¬ 
tion;  and  now  immediately  beyond  the  borders  of  our  colony  little  remains  but 
what  our  missions  have  preserved.  The  Commando  System  pursued  on  our 
frontiers  is  perhaps  the  worst  system  imaginable,  and  must  while  it  is  persisted 
in,  render  the  countries  around  our  colony  deserts.  This  great  abuse  is  one  of 
the  evils  I  hope  to  see  remedied  by  our  Reformed  Parliament. 

Those  parts  of  eastern  Africa  nearest  the  coast  are  the  most  fruitful,  and  the 
most  thickly  peopled.  Our  European  colonies  have  a  fatal  influence  on  the  po¬ 
pulation  in  their  immediate  neighbourhood.  This  is  in  a  great  measure  where 
the  people  are  not  saved  by  the  labour  of  the  missionaries,  the  inevitable  conse¬ 
quence  of  the  introduction  of  brandy,  guns,  and  gunpowder  among  them.  In 
my  late  journey  into  the  interior  I  was  made  acquainted  with  the  names  of  se¬ 
veral  traders,  who  are  in  the  habit  of  carrying  these  articles  to  the  native  tribes, 
and  of  exchanging  them  for  the  cattle  they  had  sent  them  out  to  steal  from  the 
more  defenceless  tribes  farther  in  the  interior.  The  Government  declares  those 
articles  to  be  contraband  ;  but  as  no  means  have  hitherto  been  employed  to  make 
examples  of  the  offenders,  the  law  is  a  dead  letter.  This  is  another  evil,  which 
it  is  to  be  hoped  will  be  cured  by  our  Reformed  Parliament.  I  need  scarcely 
mention  the  slave  trade  as  another  cause  of  the  thinness  of  the  population. 
Mosalekatsi  has  never  himself  traded  in  slaves,  but  the  constant  wars  in  which 
he  has  been  engaged  with  the  slave-traders  on  the  coast  may  account  for  the 
ferocity  of  his  people,  and  their  superiority  in  war  over  the  tribes  they  have 
lately  subdued.  The  country  of  the  Zoolahs  is  the  most  thickly  peopled  of  any 
of  the  countries  with  which  we  are  acquainted  in  South  Africa. 

The  Bechuilnas  have  of  late  years  suffered  more  from  famine  than  from  any 
other  cause.  Being  wholly  dependent  upon  their  cattle,  when  they  have  been 
robbed  of  them  they  have  no  alternative  but  to  rob  others,  or 'clie  of  hunger,  and 
many  of  them  die  in  this  way. — One  of  the  chief  arguments  we  have  heard 
urged  in  defence  of  polygamy  has  been,  that  it  is  favourable  to  population.  Yet 
such  is  the  fact,  that  the  increase  in  Africa  is  much  greater  where  the  law 
allows  one  wife  only,  than  it  is  where  polygamy  obtains.  The  prevalence  of 
polygamy  and  the  number  of  children  that  die  in  infancy  from  peglect  and 
want  of  proper  nourishment,  must  be  allowed  to  have  a  considerable  share  in 


the  scantiness  of  the  population  in  many  of  the  districts  on  this  continent.  If 
Commodore  Owen’s  opinion  is  correct,  (and  no  man  had  ever  better  opportuni¬ 
ties  or  was  better  qualified  for  forming  an  opinion  on  the  subject,)  that  there  are 
SO, 000  slaves  transported  every  year  from  the  eastern  and  western  coasts  of  Afri¬ 
ca,  and  that  4  or  5  perish  for  every  individual  that  is  shipped  on  board  the  slave 
vessels,  the  loss  of  human  beings  to  Africa  by  that  infernal  traffic,  must  be  sen¬ 
sibly  felt  in  keeping  the  population,  particularly  in  those  parts  of  the  continent 
where  it  is  most  actively  carried  on,  at  a  low  standard.  But  those  that  are 
killed  and  captured  by  this  traffic,  are  nothing  in  comparison  of  those  barriers 
that  are  thrown  in  the  way  of  the  increase  of  the  population,  by  the  state  of 
society  which  it  occasions  over  the  whole  continent,  and  the  numbers  that 
perish  by  the  famines  it  occasions.  There  is  no  part  of  this  continent  free  from 
the  baneful  effects  of  this  traffic.  It  penetrates  from  shore  to  shore  to  the  very 
centre  of  Africa,  dashing  to  pieces  every  fragment  of  society,  before  those  frag¬ 
ments  can  have  time  to  unite  into  any  thing  like  a  regular  government.  Most 
of  the  famines  which  sweep  off  so  many  of  the  inhabitants  of  Africa  arise 
from  this  cause.  People  will  never  cultivate  the  ground  to  great  advantage, 
where  they  have  little  chance  of  reaping  a  harvest.  And  as  the  slave-traders 
seize  the  cattle  as  well  as  the  people  of  the  tribes  they  conquer,  the  desolation 
occasioned  by  the  capture  of  the  former  must  be  greater  than  that  which  arises 
from  the  latter.  For  one  who  may  perish  immediately  in  those  conflicts  to 
which  the  slave-trade  gives  rise,  many  perish  by  the  attempts  of  the  plundered 
tribes  to  supply  themselves  with  cattle  for  those  they  have  lost,  and  that  indif¬ 
ference  to  human  life  and  that  state  of  universal  disorder,  which  it  is  the  tend¬ 
ency  of  the  system  to  generate. 

In  discussing  the  merits  of  Africa  as  a  missionary  field,  we  must  before  quit¬ 
ting  this  subject  say  something  respecting  the  other  parts  of  this  continent  on 
which  you  ask  my  opinion. 

I  say  nothing  of  the  advantages  America  may  gain  from  the  new  colony  of 
Liberia,  or  of  the  advantages  the  people  of  colour  may  gain  from  becoming  citi¬ 
zens  of  this  new  country.  1  leave  such  questions  to  be  settled  by  the  citizens 
of  the  United  States,  who  are  by  their  local  knowledge  better  qualified  than  I 
am  to  decide  them.  But  so  far  as  our  plans  for  the  future  improvement  of 
Africa  are  concerned,  I  regard  this  settlement  as  full  of  promise  to  this  unhap¬ 
py  continent.  Half  a  dozen  such  colonies,  conducted  on  Christian  principles, 
might  be  the  means  under  the  divine  blessing,  of  regenerating  this  degraded 
quarter  of  the  globe.  Every  prospective  measure  for  the  improvement  of  Africa 
must  have  in  it  the  seminal  principles  of  good  government ;  and  no  better  plan 
can  be  devised  for  laying  the  foundations  of  Christian  governments  than  that 
which  this  new  settlement  presents.  Properly  conducted  your  new  colony 
may  become  an  extensive  empire,  which  may  be  the  means  of  shedding  the 
blessings  of  civilization  and  peace  over  a  vast  portion  of  this  divided  and  dis¬ 
tracted  continent.  From  some  hints  1  have  seen  in  some  of  the  English  papers, 
I  perceive  that  you  will  have  some  difficulties  to  encounter  in  the  prosecution 
of  your  present  plan.  It  is  the  fate  of  every  good  plan  for  the  melioration  of 
the  human  race  to  be  opposed,  particularly  at  its  commencement;  and  the  viru¬ 
lence  of  the  opposition  is  generally  in  proportion  to  the  excellence  of  the  plan 
proposed.  But  we  have  this  to  encourage  us  in  our  endeavours  to  persevere  in 
the  pursuit  of  a  good  object  that  it  must  in  the  end  triumph.  I  cannot  for  a 
moment  suppose  that  ever  America  will  force  the  poor  people  of  colour  to  go  to 
Liberia.  Such  a  mode  of  proceeding  would  neither  accord  with  the  liberties  or 
good  sense  of  your  countrymen.  And  if  every  slave  proprietor  in  the  United 
States  offer  to  make  his  slaves  free,  and  the  slaves  are  willing  to  accept  their 
freedom  on  the  condition  that  they  will  exchange  America  for  Liberia,  I  can 
see  nothing  in  such  an  arrangement  to  excite  or  nourish  a  spirit  of  hostility 
against  your  new  settlement.  Care  should  be  taken,  however,  that  the  slaves 


15 


liberated  on  this  principle  should  not  be  the  worst  slaves  on  an  establishment,  or 
slaves  of  bad  character.  If  your  new  settlement  should  ever  come  to  be 
crowded  with  persons  of  such  a  description,  disorder,  despotism,  and  ruin  must 
follow,  or  at  least  must  be  in  danger  of  following.  As  I  do  not  see  any  Ame¬ 
rican  publications  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and  as  all  the  information  I  have 
of  what  is  doing  on  your  side  of  the  water,  is  from  the  scanty  notices  of  Ame¬ 
rican  affairs  I  can  glean  fiomthe  English  papers,  what  I  say  on  this  subject  is 
to  be  understood  as  spoken  under  correction.  But.  with  the  information  1  have 
I  would  suggest,  whether  it  would  not  be  well  to  give  the  whole  of  the  under¬ 
taking  a  religious  character,  and  to  invite  the  religious  and  benevolent  portion 
of  the  black  people  to  unite  in  it  for  the  purpose  of  evangelizing  and  civilizing 
Africa.  If  your  new  settlement  is  to  be  so  conducted  as  to  answer  the  expecta¬ 
tions  to  which  it  has  given  rise,  the  Committee  or  Board  which  may  have  the 
management  of  its  affairs  must  keep  in  operation  an  efficient  gospel  ministry, 
and  an  efficient  system  of  education.  The  natives  immediately  around  (the 
new  settlement  should  be  at  once  supplied  with  missionaries.  Missionary  sta¬ 
tions  should  be  formed  at  convenient  distances  from  each  other,  so  as  to  admit 
of  a  communication  between  them.  And  with  a  faithful  and  able  missionary 
at  each  station  you  should  have  schoolmasters  and  mechanics,  with  all  the  ap¬ 
paratus  necessary  for  the  attainment  of  the  object  you  propose.  In  this  way 
you  may  evangelize  and  civilize  one  circle  after  another,  till  you  have  brought 
a  vast  portion  of  the  African  continent  within  the  pale  of  the  Christian  church 
and  the  civilized  world.  This  is  what  we  are  doing  in  South  Africa,  and 
would  soon  be  able  to  do  to  a  great  extent,  were  not  the  generality  of  our  white 
people  more  partial  to  the  old  system  of  seizing  the  country  and  then  the  pro¬ 
perty  of  the  people,  and  then  the  people  themselves  for  their  own  use,  than  they 
are  to  any  plan  which  has  for  its  object  the  destruction  of  caste,  and  the  eleva¬ 
tion  of  the  aborigines  of  the  country  to  an  equal  participation  with  themselves 
in  the  blessings  of  liberty  and  civilization. 

1  have  read  with  attention  the  travels  of  Captain  Clapperton  and  the  journals 
of  the  Landers.  They  have  made  an  important  discovery,  and  it  is  upon  that 
discovery  that  their  friends  must  be  content  to  rest  their  claims  to  public  grati¬ 
tude.  It  would  be  unjust  and  cruel  to  decide  their  merits  by  the  composition 
of  their  journals.  They  did  not,  go  to  Africa  to  write  books,  but  to  discover  the 
Niger,  and  in  that  they  have  succeeded.  Allowing  them  then  that  high  merit 
to  which  they  are  entitled,  I  shall  not  be  blamed  for  undue  severity,  if  I  find 
fault  with  some  of  their  sentiments.  They  were  evidently  very  deficient  in  the 
talents  necessary  to  enable  them  to  give  a  correct  view  of  the  state  of  society 
in  those  places  they  visited.  One  feels  grieved  at  the  charges  of  idleness,  &c. 
&c.  which  they  bring  against  a  people  who  have  not,  according  to  their  own 
account,  a  single  motive  to  industry,  beyond  what  was  necessary  to  supply  their 
present  wants.  It  would  be  highly  absurd  to  expect  industry  among  a  people, 
or  indeed  any  thing  but  indolence  and  listlessness  among  a  people,  who  had  been 
so  long  under  the  withering  curse  of  the  Slave  Trade,  and  who  might  be  plun¬ 
dered  or  murdered  with  impunity  by  any  wretches  who  bore  the  livery  of  their 
Chiefs,  or  those  who  held  them  in  subjection. 

Missionaries  will  have  two  difficulties  to  encounter  in  this  country,  the  demo¬ 
ralized  state  of  the  people,  and  the  zeal  of  the  Mahomedans  among  them  In 
an  incidental  manner  our  travellers  have  furnished  us  with  facts,  the  importance 
of  which  they  did  not  seem  to  be  aware  of,  which  clearly  show  that  the  Apos¬ 
tles  of  the  Koran  are  numerous  and  indefatigable  on  the  banks  of  the  Niger. 
There  is  a  something  in  the  doctrines  of  the  Koran  exceedingly  favourable  to 
the  dominion  of  its  votaries  in  such  a  country  as  Africa.  They  raise  the 
savage  to  the  condition  of  the  barbarian ;  but  as  there  is  nothing  in  them  to 
raise  them  above  a  semi-barbarous  state  of  society,  and  there  is  something  in 
them  to  prevent  a  higher  rise  in  the  scale  of  civilization,  a  Christian  community 


16 


in  the  centre  of  Africa,  keeping  up  a  constant  communication  with  America,, 
would  soon  gain  the  ascendency  in  that  quarter.  Could  you  plant  another  co¬ 
lony  like  that  of  Liberia  on  the  banks  of  the  Niger,  it  might  be  the  means  of 
rolling  back  the  tide  of  Mahomedanism  which  appears  to  have  set  in  with  so 
strong  a  current  from  the  north,  and  of  establishing  a  Christian  state  in  the 
centre  of  Africa.  If  this  is  impracticable,  a  mission  may  be  undertaken  on  or¬ 
dinary  principles ;  but  the  conducting  of  it  should  not  be  left  to  ordinary  men ; 
and  those  who  are  to  engage  in  it  should  go  forth  in  numbers,  and  with  resour¬ 
ces  at  their  command,  from  which  a  great  impression  might  be  soon  expected. 
A  solitary  individual  may  do  much  among  a  reading  people,  and  who  hold 
many  principles  in  common  with  himself,  to  which  he  can  appeal  in  his  ad¬ 
dresses  to  their  understandings  and  to  their  hearts.  But  in  such  a  country  as 
Africa  we  must  concentrate  our  strength,  and  keep  firm  possession  of  every 
inch  we  have  gained,  and  make  use  of  the  resources  we  may  be  able  to  raise 
upon  it  for  the  further  extension  of  our  conquests.  It  was  long  a  prevalent  no¬ 
tion  in  England,  that  we  might  plant  missionaries  in  Africa  as  a  man  majr  in 
the  fertile  lands  of  the  United  States  plant  acorns,  and  leave  them  to  the  rain 
and  to  the  climate  to  spread  themselves  into  forests.  But  our  experience  has 
shown  the  folly  of  that  notion,  and  taught  us  if  we  would  succeed  in  our  object, 
that  a  more  expensive  and  laborious  system  of  cultivation  is  necessary.  Like 
the  trees  of  the  field,  the  greatest  difficulty  is  in  rearing  the  first  plantation ; 
and  when  that  has  risen  to  a  sufficient  height  to  afford  shelter,  every  new  seed 
or  young  sapling  should  be  planted  within  the  range  of  its  protection. 

In  making  choice  of  a  situation  for  a  missionary  station,  a  country  that 
would  repay  the  cultivator  of  the  soil,  and  having  if  possible  a  water  communi¬ 
cation  with  the  rest  of  the  world,  is  to  be  preferred  to  an  inland  desert.  The  in¬ 
habitants  of  the  rock  and  the  dwellers  in  the  wilderness  are  not  to  be  forgotten, 
as  the  one  are  to  shout  for  joy  at  the  glad  tidings  of  the  gospel,  and  the  other 
to  bow  down  before  the  Saviour  of  men.  But  the  most  crowded  parts  of  Afri¬ 
ca  are  first  entitled  to  our  attention,  and  our  object  in  following  the  other  should 
be  to  induce  them  to  exchange  their  wandering  habits  and  their  barren  soil,  to 
locate  themselves  on  spots  of  the  earth  where  they  can  cultivate  the  soil,  and 
enjoy  in  Christian  communities  the  social  blessings  of  Christianity  and  civiliza¬ 
tion.  The  desert  is  unfavourable  to  the  fruits  of  Christianity  :  and  after  repeated 
trials  we  have  found  that  they  never  can  be  brought  to  perfection,  or  cultivated 
to  any  extent,  unless  they  are  literally  planted  by  rivers  of  water,  where  they 
may  rise  into  families  and  tribes.  The  ark  of  the  Lord  was  carried  into  the 
wilderness :  but  it  would  not  have  remained  long  with  Israel  if  the  people  had 
been  allowed  to  choose  the  wilderness  as  their  final  abode. 

The  civilization  of  the  people  among  whom  we  labour  in  Africa  is  not  our 
highest  object ;  but  that  object  never  can  be  secured  and  rendered  permanent 
among  them  without  their  civilization.  Civilization  is  to  the  Christian  religion 
what  the  body  is  to  the  soul ;  and  the  body  must  be  prepared  and  cared  for,  if 
the  spirit  is  to  be  retained  upon  earth.  The  blessings  of  civilization  are  a  few 
of  the  blessings  which  the  Christian  religion  scatters  in  her  progress  to  immor¬ 
tality;  but  they  are  to  be  cherished  for  her  own  sake  as  well  as  for  ours,  as  they 
are  necessary  to  perpetuate  her  reign  and  extend  her  conquests. 

Because  multitudes  in  England  and  America  have  lost  their  religion,  to  which 
they  are  indebted  for  their  civilization,  many  pious  people  make  light  of  civiliza¬ 
tion  as  connected  with  the  labours  of  missionaries:  but  it  should  never  be  lost 
sight  of  that  if  men  may  retain  their  civilization  after  they  have  lost  their  reli¬ 
gion,  that  there  can  be  no  religion  in  such  a  country  as  this  without  civiliza¬ 
tion;  and  that  it  can  have  no  permanent  abode  among  us,  if  that  civilization 
does  not  shoot  up  into  regular  and  good  government. 

The  importance  of  education,  and  particularly  of  early  education,  begins  only 
to  be  felt  by  many  of  our  missionaries.  The  preaching  of  the  gospel  is  the  great 


17 


agency  ordained  by  God  for  the  conversion  of  the  world;  and  it  must  precede 
and  accompany  every  other  agency  that  has  this  object  in  view.  In  the  first 
age  of  the  church,  and  more  particularly  in  the  first  part  of  that  age,  the  preach¬ 
ing  of  those  employed  in  this  part  of  the  ministry,  and  the  conversation  and  ex¬ 
ample  of  the  primitive  Christians  were  the  means,  I  may  say  the  only  means, 
which  could  be  employed  to  evangelize  the  world.  The  instruction  of  the  rising 
generation  was  however  of  such  obvious  importance,  that  it  never  could  have 
been  for  a  moment  overlooked  in  Christian  families  ;  and  while  the  parents  were 
engaged  in  training  up  their  children  like  young  Timothy,  who  was  taught  to 
read  the  Holy  Scriptures  from  a  child,  the  Pastors  and  Elders  of  the  primitive 
churches  appear  at  an  early  period  to  have  cared  for  the  lambs  of  their  flocks. 
How  far  the  general  education  of  the  people  around  them  was  then  a  subject  of 
deep  interest  with  the  churches  of  Christ,  we  are  not  informed  :  but  as  the  boun¬ 
daries  of  the  churches  were  enlarged,  and  many  were  added  to  them  who  could 
not  themselves  read,  and  for  that  reason  could  not  teach  their  children,  provision 
was  made  by  the  churches  for  their  instruction.  When  civil  governments  arose, 
professedly  Christian,  so  long  as  they  manifested  any  thing  of  the  spirit  of 
Christianity,  more  or  less  was  done  to  furnish  the  poor  with  the  means  of  instruc¬ 
tion. 

I  shall  here  confine  myself  to  one  aspect  of  the  subject — the  importance  of 
raising  up  in  savage  or  barbarous  countries,  with  the  least  delay  that  is  possi¬ 
ble,  a  Native  Agency. 

You  may  as  well  think  of  supplying  all  the  continent  of  Africa  with  bread 
or  corn  from  Europe,  as  to  supply  it  with  teachers  and  the  means  of  instruction 
from  Europe.  The  seed-corn  may  be  furnished ;  but  it  never  can  become  gene¬ 
ral,  unless  it  shakes,  and  stocks  the  country  to  which  the  first  handfuls  are  car¬ 
ried.  This  great  object  has  hitherto  been  too  much  neglected  in  missionary 
work.  The  work  of  God  in  the  conversion  of  the  world  has  never  been  carried 
on  to  any  extent  without  a  native  agency;  and  that  work  has  always  prospered 
in  proportion  as  that  agency  has  been  numerous  and  effective.  The  Apostles 
preached  the  gospel  within  the  pale  of  the  civilized  world,  ordained  Bishops  and 
Elders  in  every  city  in  which  churches  had  been  formed,  and  left  the  newly  ap¬ 
pointed  office-bearers  to  carry  on  and  extend  the  work  of  God,  while  they  em¬ 
ployed  themselves  in  preaching  the  gospel  in  the  regions  beyond  them. — 
Even  at  the  period  of  the  reformation,  the  reformers  could  have  done  nothing 
without  the  sympathies  of  the  people,  and  without  a  native  agency.  In  coun¬ 
tries  which  have  been  civilized  by  Christianity,  agents  are  easily  found  in  a 
great  measure  prepared,  and  what  is  wanting  is  easily  supplied.  But  in  savage 
and  barbarous  countries,  we  can  only  look  for  a  native  agency  by  the  general 
education  of  the  people.  I  say  general  education  ;  for  we  have  found  by  expe¬ 
rience  that  we  must  raise  the  community  itself  to  a  certain  level,  before  such  an 
agency  can  be  found  as  will  prove  to  be  of  any  efficiency  in  the  general  spread 
of  the  gospel.  When  the  power  of  religion  is  first  felt  in  its  quickening  influ¬ 
ence  at  a  missionary  station,  the  change  is  so  marked,  that  the  individuals  thus 
awakened  are  frequently  the  means  of  communicating  what  they  have  felt  to 
others;  but  in  persons  of  this  description  there  is  so  much  ignorance  mixed  with 
their  new  light,  so  much  of  the  old  leaven  remaining,  and  the  fancy  is  so  much 
more  powerful  than  the  judgment,  that  they  constantly  stand  in  need  of  their 
teachers  to  watch  over  them;  and  few  of  them  indeed  can  be  appointed  as  au¬ 
thorized  teachers  of  others. 

To  raise  such  a  community  or  people  in  the  state  I  have  described  by  educa¬ 
tion,  the  work  should  be  begun  as  soon  as  possible.  If  the  children  of  parents  in 
such  a  state  of  society  are  not  put  under  instruction  till  they  are  7,  8,  or  9  years 
of  age,  after  all  the  education  which  can  be  given  them  they  will  differ  very  lit¬ 
tle  from  their  parents.  Conducting  our  schools  on  this  plan,  generation  after 
generation  will  pass  away  under  the  most  discouraging  circumstances  to  the 

C 


18 


ordinary  observer.  In  1819  education  had  made  little  progress  among  the  Hot- 
tentots.  Something  had  been  done,  but  nothing  in  proportion  to  what  might 
have  been  expected,  or  that  could  be  turned  to  any  account;  and  many  engaged 
in  the  missionary  work  assured  me  that  I  should  never  be  able  to  raise  up  a  na¬ 
tive  agency  to  assist  us  in  the  work  among  the  Hottentots.  Such  a  prophecy 
under  such  circumstances  could  not  fail  to  insure  its  own  accomplishment ;  for  I 
have  invariably  found  where  a  missionary  despairs  of  improving  the  condition  of 
the  natives,  he  as  invariably  fails  to  effect  the  object.  But  we  had  at  that  time 
an  example  of  a  native  boy  at  Pacaltsdorp  conducting  a  small  school  to  my  sa¬ 
tisfaction  :  and  it  was  evident  to  me  that  there  was  no  solid  ground  for  the  objec¬ 
tion  :  and  that  if  we  failed  in  this  object,  our  labour  would  prove  in  vain  in  the 
end.  The.schools  then  at  Bethelsdorp  and  Theopolis  were  in  a  very  low  state. 
The  parents  felt  no  interest  in  the  education  of  their  children  ;  the  attendance 
was  very  irregular;  indolent  habits  had  been  contracted  before  the  scholars 
came  under  instruction;  and  it  was  difficult  to  say  from  the  appearance  of  the 
schools,  whether  the  children  or  the  masters  found  their  books  the  most  irksome. 
From  the  want  of  labourers,  and  other  business  of  paramount  importance  upon 
my  hands,  nothing  could  be  done  to  improve  the  schools  till  1821.  From  that 
period,  through  the  means  which  were  adopted,  the  schools  were  better  attended, 
and  a  degree  of  life  and  animation  was  thrown  into  them,  which  encouraged  our 
hopes.  About  this  period  my  arduous  conflict  with  the  local  authorities  and 
the  colonial  government  commenced;  and  the  attention  of  the  missionaries  was 
withdrawn  from  the  schools,  being  almost  entirely  occupied  in  correspondence 
with  the  constituted  authorities  of  the  colony,  and  executing  their  commands; 
which  were  often  multiplied  with  no  other  apparent  view  but  to  annoy  them  and 
drive  them  from  their  stations.  During  that  struggle  the  importance  of  the 
schools  was  not,  however,  lost  sight  of,  but  owing  to  various  causes  I  need  not 
enumerate,  much  less  was  done  than  I  wished  to  see  effected. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  principle  I  have  laid  down,  I  shall  give  you  a  brief 
account  of  the  state  of  things  now  at  the  Kat  River  settlement,  on  the  borders 
of  Caffraria.  This  settlement  was  begun  in  1829.  It  was  in  that  year  that  the 
Caffers  were  expelled  from  it;  and  the  peopling  of  it  with  Hottentots  appears  to 
have  been  an  after  thought.  The  plan  was  suggested  to  the  colonial  govern¬ 
ment  by  Captain  Stockenstrom,  the  Commissioner  General  on  the  frontier  dis¬ 
trict;  and  it  was  urged  by  that  gentleman  on  sound  political  views,  which  were 
acceded  to  by  the  colonial  government.  When  the  plan  was  arranged  and 
agreed  to,  the  Commissioner  General  visited  Bethelsdorp  and  Theopolis,  two  of 
our  missionary  stations;  and  by  his  persuasion  144  families,  including  the  most 
respectable  families  at  those  institutions,  went  to  settle  in  this  new  territory. — 
The  plan  was,  to  settle  the  Hottentots  in  small  villages,  and  to  give  them  a  pro¬ 
perty  in  the  soil.  The  families  from  our  institutions  were  soon  joined  by  others 
who  had  never  been  at  any  missionary  institution,  and  of  this  latter  class  there 
are  now  between  3  and  4000  in  the  district.  I  visited  this  people  early  in  1830, 
and  I  then  viewed  with  pleasing  surprise  their  industry,  the  spirit  of  hope  by 
whichthey  were  actuated,  their  anxiety  for  a  religious  teacher,  and  their  deter¬ 
mination  to  have  education  for  their  children.  One  woman  1  found  surrounded 
with  50  children,  in  a  place  where  they  were  literally  wedged  together,  so  that 
one  could  not  move  without  disturbing  the  whole  mass;  and  with  the  leaves  of 
a  New  Testament,  which  were  all  the  lessons  she  had  to  set  before  them.  At 
all  the  other  locations  where  I  found  Hottentots  from  our  institutions,  I  found  the 
same  desire  for  the  instruction  of  the  rising  generation.  But  it  was  not  till  Mr. 
Read  (who  is  now  the  missionary  settled  in  that  district)  went  among  the  peo¬ 
ple,  that  we  could  do  any  thing  efficiently  to  aid  them  in  the  desire  manifested 
by  them  for  their  own  improvement  and  the  improvement  of  their  children.  On 
my  late  visit  to  that  district  in  1832,  the  expectation  excited  by  what  I  saw  in 
1830  was  in  every  respect  more  than  realized.  The  exertions  the  people  had 


macffe  to  lead  out  the  water,  of  which  they  have  an  excellent  supply,  for  the  pur¬ 
pose  of  irrigation,  the  lands  they  had  brought  under  cultivation,  the  houses  they 
had  erected,  and  the  decent  clothing  in  which  they  appeared,  with  the  improve¬ 
ment  I  remarked  in  their  habits  of  thinking,  in  their  address,  and  in  the  self- 
respect  they  discovered — evinced  a  general  improvement  that  afforded  me  the 
most  exouisite  pleasure.  At  Philipton,  the  location  at  which  the  missionary 
resided,  there  was  an  infant  school,  very  ably  conducted,  and  a  sewing  school, 
by  the  Miss  Reads,  and  a  school  on  the  British  system  taught  by  a  Hottentot 
boy,  including  both  together  about  140  children.  At  one  location  where  the 
whole  of  the  party  had  been  Bushmen,  and  were  in  a  state  of  nature  when 
they  settled  in  the  district,  I  found  a  Hottentot  schoolmaster  who  belonged  to 
Bethelsdorp,  and  a  Christian  people.  This  man  was  introduced  among  them 
by  Mr.  Read ;  he  had  been  the  means  of  bringing  most  of  the  old  people  to  the 
knowledge  of  the  truth;  he  kept  Divine  service  among  them,  except,  on  the  first 
sabbath  of  the  month,  when  ail  that  could  travel  so  far  went  to  Philipton  to  the 
Lord’s  Supper;  and  he  had  a  day  school  in  a  flourishing  condition.  On  this 
visit  I  established  several  infant  schools,  which  are  conducted  by  young  people 
formerly  at  the  missionary  stations,  and  who  have  been  instructed  in  the  infant 
system  by  the  Miss  Reads.  The  people  have  plenty  of  food,  and  it  is  surprising 
to  see  how  well  they  are  clothed  ;  but  they  have  not  yet  money  in  general,  and 
cannot  therefore  do  every  thing  they  wish  to  do.  The  plan  I  adopted  in  estab¬ 
lishing  schools  among  them  was  as  follows: — The  people  furnish  the  teachers 
with  land  and  plough,  and  sow  and  reap  it  for  them,  or  they  supply  them  with 
food:  and  I  allow  each  teacher  Is.  6d.  or  2s.  a  week,  to  purchase  clothing  for  j 
them.  On  this  principle  eight  schools  were  established  in  the  district  on  my 
last  visit  to  it.  The  economy  and  the  means  by  which  we  are  enabled  upon 
this  system  to  multiply  the  means  of  instruction,  are  too  obvious  to  require  fur¬ 
ther  illustration.  Many  of  these  native  teachers  fill  their  spheres  of  labour 
with  as  much  efficiency  as  many  persons  we  get  from  Europe  might  do,  and 
we  can  with  the  salary  of  one  European  teacher  employ  20  or  30  such  teachers. 
Besides  the  number  of  such  teachers  that  we  can  employ  instead  of  one,  we 
have  no  expense  of  out-fit,  passage  money,  and  their  widows  and  orphans  are 
no  charge  to  the  society.  Looking  at  the  scenes  this  district  presents,  and  par¬ 
ticularly  at  the  schools,  with  the  pleasure  they  were  calculated  to  inspire,  my 
pleasure  was  not  without  some  regret.  Had  I  been  warmly  supported  in  my 
views  7  or  8  years  ago,  and  had  I  met  with  that  cooperation  I  wished  for, 
instead  of  8  or  9  schools  conducted  on  this  principle,  we  should  have  had  five 
times  the  number. 

The  religious  aspect  of  the  district  was  not  less  encouraging  than  the  thirst 
of  the  people  for  the  education  of  their  children.  The  public  ordinances  off 
the  Gospel  are  on  the  Sabbath  well  attended.  The  Rev.  W.  Thomson  and 
Rev.  J.  Read  are  the  ministers  of  the  district,  and  they  hold  service  at  two 
different  locations  apart  from  each  other.  The  sabbaths  I  was  at  Philipton 
the  congregations  might  be  about  1000  people,  and  I  do  not  know  that  ever  I 
was  more  affected  than  on  seeing  this  people  on  the  sabbath  morning  coming 
from  the  different  locations  in  groups,  well  dressed,  and  in  the  most  decent  and 
orderly  manner,  at  the  sound  of  the  church  bell.  In  conversing  with  the  people 
the  leading  feature  of  their  piety  appeared  to  be  gratitude  to  God,  which  was  often 
manifested  by  tears,  when  they  contrasted  their  former  bondage  and  wretchedness 
with  their  present  prosperous  condition.  To  enter  into  their  feelings,  and  to  form! 
a  proper  estimate  of  what  has  been  done  for  them  by  the  instrumentality  of  the 
missionaries,  it  was  necessary  to  keep  in  mind  what  they  were  before  the  mission-, 
ariescame  among  them.  We  now  compare  all  we  see  among  them  with  nothing. 
When  our  missions  commenced  among  those  people,  they  were  in  a  condition 
much  worse  than  that  of  common  slavery;  they  were  without  any  religion, 
without  morals;  without  one  yard  of  cotton  or  woollen  cloths,  and  I  may  sayj 


naked,  without  property,  living  in  licentiousness  and  drunkenness,  and  without 
any  desires  excepting  such  as  terminated  on  beastl}7  gratifications. 

The  morality  of  this  district  cannot  be  omitted  in  our  present  estimate;  and 
to  illustrate  this  it  is  necessary  only  to  say,  that  they  have  a  magistrate  of  their 
own  nation,  and  there  has  not  one  offence  occurred  in  the  district  that  it  has 
been  necessary  to  bring  before  the  circuit  court  of  justice. 

To  illustrate  the  importance  of  a  Native  Agency,  it  is  necessary  only  to  say 
that  the  work  of  God  among  the  people  and  in  the  schools  is  carried  on  chiefly 
by  the  people  who  were  from  Bethelsdorp  and  Theopolis.  They  are  the  leaven 
which  is  leavening  the  whole  lump.  At  each  of  the  locations  where  these 
people  are  placed  they  are  active  in  schools,  and  in  bringing  others  under  the 
means  of  grace.  From  the  church  at  Philipton  several  of  the  office-bearers 
and  other  gifted  individuals  visit  on  the  sabbath  the  distant  locations,  and 
many  of  them  preach,  perhaps  with  much  more  effect  to  their  own  countrymen 
than  persons  of  superior  education  would  do,  and  who  from  the  nature  of  their 
very  education,  and  their  ignorance  of  the  customs  and  modes  of  thinking 
among  the  people,  might  not  have  the  same  access  to  their  understandings  and 
their  hearts. 

While  education  of  the  people  as  a  whole  is  pursued  as  of  paramount  import¬ 
ance,  the  Christian  minister  is  not  to  allow  himself  to  sink  into  the  mere 
schoolmaster.  Those  who  are  advanced  beyond  childhood,  and  who  may 
never  be  taught  to  read,  are  to  be  objects  of  his  Christian  solicitude,  and  are  to 
be  brought  under  the  influence  of  Christian  principles  for  their  own  sakes,  and 
for  the  influence  they  have  over  the  rising  generation.  And  it  is  by  the  oral 
instruction  of  the  missionaries,  any  reasonable  hope  can  be  entertained  of  bring¬ 
ing  them  within  the  pale  of  the  Christian  church.  The  instructions  given  to 
them  need  not  occupy  much  of  the  missionary’s  time  in  the  usual  mode  in 
civilized  countries  of  preparing  sermons  and  addresses  for  them.  Provided  he 
can  speak  to  them  in  their  own  language,  the  simpler,  the  shorter,  and  the 
more  familiar  his  addresses  are,  the  more  effective  they  will  be.  Conversation 
and  a  conversational  mode  of  preaching,  is  the  best  suited  for  their  condition: 
and  the  missionaries  who  have  followed  this  plan  have  been  the  most  successful. 

In  raising  up  and  keeping  in  operation  an  effective  agency,  the  public  mi¬ 
nistrations  of  the  word  of  God  are  necessary.  When  religion  has  made  some 
progress  among  a  savage  or  barbarous  people,  it  is  under  the  public  administra¬ 
tion  of  the  word  of  God  they  receive  those  elevated  sentiments  and  accessions 
of  Christian  zeal,  which  exercise  their  benevolence  to  their  fellow  men,  and  pre¬ 
serve  alive  in  their  minds  those  spiritual  energies  which  carry  them  forward  in 
the  exercises  and  labours  of  Christian  love.  The  efficient  ministry  of  the  gos¬ 
pel  in  public,  and  in  the  social  meetings  of  the  people  is  like  the  action  of  the 
heart  to  the  human  body,  it  is  from  it,  that  health  and  life  are  diffused  over  the 
whole  body.  But  the  missionary  will  do  very  little  good  who  considers  his 
duty  at  an  end  when  he  has  done  preaching  to  the  people.  It  is  not  enough 
for  him  to  say  :  I  have  preached  the  gospel  to  the  people :  I  have  set,  before 
them' the  words  of  life  and  death:  I  have  told  them  what  to  shun  and  what 
to  practice.  He  must  ascertain  whether  the  gospel  is  received,  whether  the 
evils  against  which  he  has  warned  them  have  been  shunned,  and  whether  the 
duties  he  has  enjoined  upon  them  have  been  put  in  practice.  lie  may  not  im¬ 
mediately  see  the  signs  of  conversion,  and  in  many  cases  he  may  have  to  wait 
long  for  them.  But  there  is  a  diversity  of  means  besides  preaching,  that  he 
must  employ  in  his  work ;  to  all  these  he  must  be  attentive,  and  into  all  these 
he  must  be  constantly  breathing  a  spirit  of  life.  In  training  up  an  effective 
agency,  the  gifts  and  graces  of  the  different  members  must  be  called  forth  into 
exercise,  and  it  is  when  they  are  thus  emplojmd  that  he  fits  them  for  being  use¬ 
ful  to  each  other ;  and  it  is  from  those  that  make  the  greatest  improvement  that 


he  is  to  select  individuals  for  special  purposes.  An  efficient  agency  will  be 
looked  for  in  vain,  if  suitable  means  are  not  thus  employed  to  secure  it. 

By  the  blessing  of  God  upon  the  ordinary  means  employed  to  evangelize 
the  heathen,  men  who  have  never  been  taught  to  read  may  be  very  usefu)  in 
the  church,  and  to  those  around  them;  but  without  the  education  of  the  rising 
generation  this  kind  of  agency  can  never  be  extensively  useful:  teachers  cannot 
be  raised  up  to  continue  the  work  of  God  in  a  heathen  country:  and  after  all 
the  money  which  may  have  been  expended  upon  them,  the  cause  is  in  danger 
of  perishing,  and  in  such  places  it  may  ultimately  die  awa}'.  From  what  has 
been  said,  one  thing  is  clear,  that  to  carry  on  and  extend  the  missionary  work 
we  must  have  Native  Agency;  and  that  to  procure  that  agency  the  work  of 
education  among  the  heathen  cannot  be  begun  too  soon,  nor  carried  on  too  ex¬ 
tensively. 

We  come  now  to  the  importance  of  Infant  Schools.  If  Miss  Hamilton’s 
opinion  is  correct,  (and  I  fully  agree  with  her  in  it,)  that,  generally  speaking, 
the  character  is  formed  by  the  time  a  child  is  seven  years  of  age,  the  propriety 
of  beginning  education  at  an  earlier  period  than  what  has  been  customary, 
particularly  among  the  heathen,  is  obvious.  Ur.  Fanderkemp,  remarking  the 
debilitating  effect  of  the  manners  and  conversations  of  the  parents  upon  the 
minds  of  the  children,  had  his  mind  for  some  years  before  his  death  occupied 
with  the  plan  of  an  Orphan  Asylum.  The  scheme  miscarried  for  want  of 
sufficient  funds,  and  that  sympathy  with  it  in  England  necessary  to  raise  them. 
This  is  not  to  be  regretted ;  as  it  never  could  have  been  carried  to  that  extent 
which  would  have  answered  his  expectations. 

The  Infant  School  system  at  our  missionary  Institutions  supplies  this  deside¬ 
ratum  in  a  manner  so  complete  that  it  scarcely  leaves  any  thing  to  be  wished 
for.  There  is  in  the  system  a  power  of  expansion  which  has  no  narrower 
limits  than  the  ignorance  and  incapacity  of  its  conductors.  Even  if  the  chil¬ 
dren  are  left  to  live  with  their  parents,  before  they  even  are  capable  of  being 
injured  by  the  parents,  it  brings  their  minds  under  a  new  influence  which  shields 
them  from  harm;  and  while  it  calls  forth  and  invigorates  their  intellectual  pow¬ 
ers,  it  sheds  a  softening  and  subduing  influence  over  their  dispositions  and  man¬ 
ners,  and  impresses  upon  the  heart  at  the  most  favourable  season  those  religious 
and  moral  lessons,  which  it  is  to  be  hoped  will  grow  with  their  growth,  and  by 
this  means  give  rise  to  a  state  of  improvement  in  one  generation,  which  it  would 
require  many  generations  to  accomplish  on  the  old  system.  I  am  not  now 
theorizing  on  this  subject  without  data.  Short  as  the  time  has  been  that  our 
Infant  Schools  have  been  in  operation,  the  effects  they  have  already  produced, 
justify  all  that  we  anticipate  from  them.  The  children  at  our  Infant  Schools 
are  remarked  by  every  stranger  for  the  gentleness  of  their  manners,  the  intelli¬ 
gence  which  beams  in  their  countenances,  the  delight  they  take  in  their  school 
exercises,  as  exhibiting  a  contrast  to  their  elders  in  the  upper  schools.  They 
keep  always  by  themselves;  they  can  scarcely  be  brought  to  associate  with  the 
other  children  ;  they  are  even  when  at  play  out  of  doors  engaged  in  their  school 
exercises;  at  the  same  time  children  of  three  and  four  years  of  age  are  making 
more  rapid  progress  in  acquiring  their  letters,  than  boys  and  girls  of  nine  and 
ten  years  of  age  do  in  the  other  schools.  While  with  their  parents  their  minds 
are  so  filled  with  their  school  exercises,  that  instead  of  listening  to  their  pa¬ 
rents  they  become  their  teachers.  And  while  the  pleasure  they  have  in  these 
schools  draws  them  to  them,  (a  matter  of  great  importance  among  the  heathen, 
the  reluctance  of  the  children  to  attend  the  schools  being  one  of  the  greatest 
discouragements  the  missionaries  have  to  contend  against.,)  the  happy  effect 
these  schools  have  upon  the  minds  and  tempers  of  the  children,  secures  the 
ready  co-operation  of  the  parents,  who  (as  is  customary  among  savages  or  bar¬ 
barians,)  seldom  cross  the  inclinations  of  their  children.  It  is  a  singular  fact, 
and  it  does  not  say  much  for  the  superiority  of  the  white  man,  that  the  system 


is  much  more  cordially  received,  and  much  more  highly  appreciated  by  the 
Hottentots  and  other  people  of  colour  in  this  colony,  than  it  is  by  the  generality 
of  the  ruling  class,  and  it  has  not  been  without  a  mixture  of  strong  emotions, 
that  I  have  often  contrasted  the  enthusiastic  feelings  of  the  one,  with  the  in¬ 
difference  of  the  other.  We  have  no  difficulty  in  introducing  Infant  Schools 
among  any  of  the  tribes  of  South  Africa.  Wherever  they  have  been  intro¬ 
duced  they  have  been  regarded  by  the  natives  as  presenting  the  most  attractive 
scenes;  fathers  and  mothers,  often  crowd  about  the  window^  of  our  Infant 
Schools  to  hear  and  observe  the  children ;  and  when  the  little  things  have  been 
repeating  that  lesson, — “  We  love  our  sisters  and  brothers — we  love  our  fathers 
and  mothers,”  &c.  I  have  often  seen  them  turn  away  their  heads  to  hide  their 
tears. 

My  sentiments  relating  to  the  relative  importance  of  the  ministration  of  the 
word  of  God  and  the  education  of  the  rising  generation,  have  been  so  distinctly 
expressed  that  I  hope  they  cannot  be  mistaken.  I  do  not  place  them  in  oppo¬ 
sition  to  each  other;  and  if  I  have  enlarged  more  upon  the  importance  of  early 
education  than  upon  the  importance  of  preaching  to  the  people,  it  is  because 
too  many  good  people,  and  too  many  missionaries  regard  the  latter  as  every 
thing,  and  the  former  as  of  little  importance;  and  because  the  duties  of  the  one 
are  more  agreeable  to  the  fancy,  to  the  indolence,  and  to  the  vanity  of  the  hu¬ 
man  mind,  than  the  other.  All  men  love  to  work  upon  large  masses,  and  wish 
to  see  every  thing  done  by  mere  speaking ;  but  we  have  as  yet  found  out  no 
royal  road  to  the  result  we  labour  to  effect.  The  gospel  never  can  have  a  per¬ 
manent  footing  in  a  barbarous  country,  unless  education  and  civilization  go 
hand  in  hand  with  our  religious  instructions.  On  any  other  principle  we  may 
labour  for  centuries  without  getting  a  step  nearer  our  object — the  conversion  of 
the  world  to  God — than  that  which  may  have  been  attained  in  the  first  10  or 
12  years  of  our  missions.  And  if  your  missionaries  go  to  labour  in  any  part  of 
Africa  with  different  views  than  those  I  have  expressed,  and  persist  in  their 
error,  they  will  probably  die  closing  their  days  in  regretting  their  mistake. 

Long  as  this  communication  already  is,  I  cannot  conclude  it  without  advert¬ 
ing  to  another  most  important  feature  of  the  subject,  which  has  hitherto  been 
too  much  overlooked  in  England — the  qualifications  necessary  in  missionaries 
designed  for  Africa.  Down  to  a  very  late  period,  and  even  now,  this  error  is 
very  common  among  religious  people  in  England,  that  missionaries  unfit  for 
India  and  other  places,  will  do  very  well  for  Africa.  To  this  part  of  the  sub¬ 
ject  I  cannot  at  present  do  justice,  but  1  cannot  avoid  calling  your  attention  to 
it,  and  marking  it  out  to  you  as  a  delusion  that  the  missionary  societies  in 
America  must  be  on  their  guard  against,  at  the  very  commencement  of  their 
missionary  operations  on  this  continent,  if  they  would  avoid  in  their  course  of 
proceeding,  much  useless  waste  of  money  and  of  time,  and  see  their  labours 
and  their  wishes  crowned  with  success.  I  know  of  no  situation  upon  earth 
that  requires  a  greater  knowledge  of  the  world,  and  more  of  the  philosophy  of 
religion  and  human  nature,  than  are  required  in  the  mind  of  the  man  who  has 
to  begin  and  conduct  the  affairs  of  an  African  mission.  What  Richard  said, — 
“A  kingdom  for  a  horse,”  1  am  sometimes  disposed  to  apply  to  a  missionary. 
To  render  his  labours  efficient,  he  has,  from  the  moment  the  first  germ  of  civili¬ 
zation  is  imparted  by  the  effects  of  the  gospel  on  the  hearts  of  the  people,  till 
the  desert  shall  begin  to  blossom  around  him,  and  the  blossoms  to  ripen  into 
fruit, — one  of  the  most  difficult  processes  to  conduct,  that  can  occupy  the  atten¬ 
tion  of  a  human  being.  While  his  character  and  judgment  must  be  such  as  to 
secure  the  full  confidence  of  the  society  to  which  he  belongs,  and  the  ascen¬ 
dency  of  his  mind  such  as  to  make  those  around  him  and  engaged  with  him  in 
the  same  work,  look  up  to  him,  (for  the  mere  ensign  of  authority  is  nothing, 
so  far  removed  from  the  control  of  the  parent  society,)  he  must  be  able  to  per¬ 
ceive  what  the  people  want,  and  to  supply  a  thousand  influences  to  carry  on 


the  civilizing’  process,  which  are  not  required  in  a  minister  of  the  gospel  among 
a  civilized  people.  Among  a  jsavage  or  barbarous  people,  who  are  without 
civil  government,  the  missionary  or  missionaries  have  to  supply  this  deficiency; 
and  they  have  nothing  to  supply  it  but  the  confidence  the  people  have  in  their 
wisdom,  their  integrity,  and  their  disinterestedness.  At  our  missionary  institu¬ 
tions  during  the  first  stages  of  our  missions,  the  missionaries  have  all  the  secu¬ 
lar  as  well  as  the  religious  affairs  of  the  people  upon  their  hands;  and  at  our 
missions  beyond  the  colony  the  prevalence  or  prevention  of  domestic  and  foreign 
broils  among  neighbouring  chiefs  frequently  depends  upon  the  conduct  of  the 
missionaries. 

The  most  critical  of  all  periods  in  the  history  of  missionary  labours,  is  that 
when  the  people  become  ripe  for  civil  government.  If  Providence  has  not  pro¬ 
vided  a  governing  and  master-mind  among  our  missionaries  at  that  period  or 
stage  of  the  process,  all  will  be  in  imminent  danger  of  being  lost.  I  shall  men¬ 
tion  one  fact  to  you, — but  avoid  names,  because  all  the  parties  are  alive  to  illus¬ 
trate  this  sentiment.  We  had  at  one  station  beyond  the  Colony,  a  succession 
of  excellent  men,  men  of  great  piety,  and  who  were  useful  among  the  people  up 
to  the  point  I  have  noticed.  The  first  conducted  the  people  from  a  savage  state 
to  the  agricultural  state,  and  among  the  old  people,  generally  speaking,  to  whom 
he  had  been  made  useful  in  their  conversion  to  God,  he  maintained  his  authority. 
Others  at  different  periods  entered  with  him  into  his  labours,  and  the  young 
people  were  generally  taught  to  read,  and  some  of  them  could  write  and  cipher. 
The  profession  of  Christianity  was  now  universal  among  them;  every  man  had  one 
wife  only,  and  the  children  were  baptized  and  taught  the  Christian  faith.  Some¬ 
thing  like  a  civil  code  was  extracted  from  the  New  Testament,  and  when  the 
society  was  in  an  infant  state  it  was  submitted  to  by  the  old  people.  As  regu¬ 
lations  for  the  government  of  a  Christian  church,  all  was  proper,  but  all  the 
people  on  the  station,  though  they  professed  themselves  Christians,  were  not 
Christians.  Many  joined  them  and  conformed  to  their  regulations,  who  were 
far  from  being  religious  men ;  and  the  young  people  grew  up,  and  as  few  of 
them  had  tasted  the  grace  of  God,  and  had  received  but  a  very  imperfect  edu¬ 
cation,  the3r  became  troublesome  under  the  regulations  which  they  considered 
too  strict  for  them.  Vexed  with  the  troubles  which  now  arose,  and  finding 
that  they  could  not  manage  the  people,  they  left  the  station,  one  after  another 
in  despair,  abandoning  all  that  had  been  done.  In  this  distressing  predicament, 
and  when  nothing  but  utter  desolation  was  looked  for,  I  turned  my  eyes  to  one 
missionary,  who  readily  entered  into  my  views,  and  immediately  repaired  to  the 
deserted  station.  On  his  arriving  among  the  people,  he  found  them  all  divided 
among  themselves.  The  first  Sabbath  he  preached  to  them,  he  had  not  a  dozen 
people  to  hear  him ;  and  so  much  injured  had  their  minds  been  by  their  divi¬ 
sions,  that  the  majority  even  of  that  small  number,  looked  upon  him  with  indif¬ 
ference.  The  fruit  of  the  labours  of  many  years  seemed  suspended  upon  a  sin¬ 
gle  hair;  but  that  hair  soon  became  a  thousand;  and  the  dozen  with  which  he 
commenced  his  missionary  labours  at  this  station  multiplied  into  hundreds;  and 
there  is  not  at  this  moment  in  Africa,  a  more  flourishing  missionary  station,  or 
one  where  love  and  union  prevail  more. 

After  all  that  can  be  said  about  the  perfection  of  any  one  system,  or  the  supe¬ 
riority  of  one  system  over  another,  our  success  must  under  the  blessing  of  God 
depend  upon  the  character  of  our  agency.  The  missionary  in  a  country  like 
this,  in  addition  to  piety  and  disinterestedness,  requires  to  be  a  man  of  resources. 
On  my  last  visit  to  the  Kat  River  settlement,  I  visited  a  party  who  had  been  till 
they  came  there  all  their  lives  in  the  bushes ;  and  were  what  are  called  in  South 
Africa  wild  Bushmen.  When  they  were  permitted  to  settle  on  the  Ivat  River 
three  years  ago,  they  had  literally  nothing  but  the  old  sheep-skin  karosses  about 
their  shoulders.  They  had  not  so  much  as  one  iron  tool,  they  had  no  seed  corn, 
they  had  nothing  to  give  in  exchange  for  any.  With  a  borrowed  hatchet  they 


24 


made  a  wooden  plough,  which  had  not  about  it  one  iron  pin.  From  one  Hot¬ 
tentot  they  borrowed  two  oxen,  with  which  they  ploughed  their  ground:  from 
another  they  borrowed  seed  corn.  By  the  first  crop  they  were  enabled  to  repay 
their  seed-corn,  and  purchase  some  bullocks  and  some  iron.  To  get  a  more  per¬ 
fect  plough  they  must  use  their  iron ;  and  to  do  this  they  substituted  a  skin  for 
a  bellows,  which  they  worked  with  their  hands.  The  second  plough  had  an  iron 
coulter;  and  is  a  very  'respectable  instrument;  and  the  second  year’s  crop  put 
them  in  easy  circumstances.  When  I  saw  them  on  my  late  journey,  they  had 
not  only  made  a  wagon  for  themselves,  but  they  were  making  and  repairing 
wagons  and  ploughs  for  the  neighbouring  locations.  From  this  little  anecdote 
you  may  see  what  kind  of  men  we  need  as  missionaries  in  Africa.  We  do  not 
want  men  that  must  have  situations  made  to  their  minds,  before  they  can  work  in 
them  with  pleasure  or  profit;  but  men  who  come  here  to  make  easy  situations 
for  their  successors,  men  who  know  not  what  difficulties  mean;  of  creative  minds, 
and  of  governing  minds;  who  by  faith  in  God,  and  confidence  in  the  efficacy  of 
means,  can  subdue  all  things  before  them  ;  men  like  your  Beecher,  who  can  be¬ 
lieve  practicable  what  all  the  world  declares  to  be  an  impossibility.  It  is  amaz¬ 
ing  what  men  of  this  description,  by  the  divine  blessing,  can  effect.  Academi¬ 
cal  acquirements  are  desirable;  learning  is  desirable;  but  these  are  nothing  with¬ 
out  mind.  Give  me  a  man  deeply  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  thegospel,  with  the 
practical  mind  of  your  own  Franklin,  if  he  has  never  had  a  Latin  book  or  a 
Greek  Testament  in  his  hand:  and  if  that  man  be  thrown  on  any  part  of  the 
African  Continent,  with  nothing  but  the  Bible  and  his  common  sense  to  guide 
him,  that  man  will  do  more  as  a  missionary  than  ten  feeble-minded  men  with  all 
the  learning  of  the  schools.  I  have  seen  half  a  dozen  of  educated  men  despair 
and  do  nothing  in  a  sphere  in  which  they  were  succeeded  by  a  man,  under 
whose  labours  in  the  course  of  a  short  time  the  desert  has  become  as  the  garden 
of  the  Lord. 

Let  it  be  remembered,  that  I  do  not  speak  against  learning ;  it  is  desirable, 
and  the  superior  mind  is  greatly  elevated  by  it.  I  do  not  speak  against  a  talent 
for  languages:  without  this  the  languages  of  the  natives  are  not  to  be  acquired. 
But  I  wish  to  impress  upon  you  the  necessity  of  mind  in  an  African  missionary 
along  with  education ;  and  the  superiority  of  mind  over  education,  when  you 
are  left  to  choose  between  the  two.  You  will  not  suppose  that  I  mean  any  re¬ 
flection  upon  the  missionaries  who  have  gone  from  America  to  the  heathen 
world.  Ho  far  as  I  have  had  the  means  of  judging,  I  believe,  generally  speak¬ 
ing,  that  the  American  missionaries  are  in  some  important  points  superior  to  our 
own.  A  remark  of  your  Judson,  at  the  commencement  of  the  Burman  mission, 
and  before  I  thought  of  being  a  missionary,  attached  me  to  the  man,  and  raised 
him  still  higher  in  my  estimation,  since  I  have  seen  its  force  more  fully  unfolded 
to  me  in  this  missionary  field.  The  following  is  the  remark  to  which  I  refer:- — 
“Keep  us  from  pious,  well-meaning,  wrong-headed  men :  for  one  man  of  this 
description  will  do  more  harm  in  a  situation  like  this,  than  a  missionary  in  his 
whole  life  will  be  able  to  remove.”  I  would  add  to  the  above  remark  a  prayer, 
that  the  Lord  would  keep  our  directors  from  sending  us  useless  men ;  for  if  this 
evil  is  not  guarded  against,  we  shall  soon  have  all  the  funds  of  our  societies  ab¬ 
sorbed  doing  little  or  nothing. 

What  is  emphatically  designated  the  gospel  of  Christ  must  be  the  soul  of  all 
missionary  operations  ;  but  with  those  that  are  the  instruments  of  imparting  the 
quickening  spirit,  there  should  be  at  all  our  missionary  stations  individuals  who 
know  the  connexion  between  soul  and  body,  and  who  know  what  must  be  done 
to  the  body  to  keep  the  soul  healthy,  and  the  body  a  fit  habitation  for  the  soul. 
When  the  principles  of  Christianity  take  possession  of  the  heart,  there  is  a  prin¬ 
ciple  of  life:  but  the  developement  and  direction  of  the  powers  and  tendencies  of 
this  life,  from  its  first  germination  among  barbarians,  till  it  pervades  the  sur¬ 
rounding  mass,  and  gives  rise  to  all  the  forms  of  civilization  and  government,  is 


25 


an  arduous  process,  and  one  that  requires  mind  and  devotedness  to  the  cause  to 
conduct.  Till  civil  governments  arise  among  the  tribes  of  Africa,  (and  this  can 
never  be  the  case  but  by  the  labours  of  our  missionaries,)  there  can  be  no  public 
virtue;  in  other  words,  there  will  be  no  checks  upon  individual  selfishness;  and 
there  can  be  no  end  to  the  desolating  wars,  which  families  and  small  tribes  wage 
against  each  other. 

Christianity  has  not  yet  put  an  end  to  the  wars  of  civilized  nations,  on  this 
simple  principle,  because  it  has  not  yet  raised  the  common  people  bv  education 
to  that  elevation  to  which  it  is  fast  raising  them,  and  from  which  they  will  see 
the  folly  as  well  as  the  wickedness  of  war.  But  the  wars  of  civilized  nations 
and  those  of  barbarous  tribes  differ  so  much  in  their  character  and  effects  that 
they  cannot  be  brought  into  comparison.  The  great  object  of  the  missionary  is 
to  impart  to  savages  or  barbarians  the  principle  of  a  new  life  ;  and  in  doing  this, 
and  in  doing  what  is  necessary  to  cherish,  strengthen,  and  propagate  this  prin¬ 
ciple,  and  aid  it  in  the  developement  of  its  powers,  and  preserve  those  that  re¬ 
ceive  it  in  peace  and  security  against  wicked  and  unreasonable  men,  he  will  du¬ 
ring  the  first  years  of  his  labours  have  much  to  do;  but  if  he  or  some  one  with 
him  is  not  at  hand  to  supply  the  want  of  the  rising  community,  and  to  guide 
them  in  their  civil  affairs,  it  is  vain  to  expect  that  his  labours  will  be  attended 
with  any  permanent  fruits  upon  earth.  Heaven  may  receive  from  his  prayers 
and  labours  a  few  souls  ;  but  he  will  scarcely  be  removed  from  the  sphere  of  his 
labours  when  the  field  he  had  cultivated  will  return  to  its  former  state.  The 
traveller  may  pass  over  it  in  a  few  years  without  any  one  to  tell  him  where  the 
missionary  lived;  and  instead  of  the  captivating  scene  described  (and  faithfully 
described)  in  the  pages  of  the  Missionary  Journal,  he  may  find  nothing  but  a 
moral  desert.  We  have  at  this  time  before  us  in  Africa  examples  of  the  evil 
we  deprecate;  and  we  have,  through  mercy,  examples  of  a  different  description. 
By  the  blessing  of  God  upon  the  labours  of  our  missionaries,  a  new  country 
has  been  brought  within  the  pale  of  the  Christian  church;  and  at  the  general 
request  of  the  people,  we  are  now  soliciting  the  government  to  receive  it  as  a 
part  of  the  colony.  We  have  the  prejudices  of  a  powerful  class  against  us,  who 
would  rather  have  the  country  than  see  the  people  recognized  as  forming  part 
of  the  colony;  but  I  do  hope  that  God  will  ultimately  secure  to  them  the  peace¬ 
able  possession  of  their  fountains  and  lands,  and  defeat  the  designs  of  their  ene¬ 
mies.  I  am  the  more  inclined  to  hope  that  this  will  be  the  case  under  one  form 
or  another,  as  the  only  objection  which  was  made  to  the  plan  the  other  day, 
when  I  was  urging  it  upon  our  present  governor,  Sir  Lowry  Cole,  is  not  one  that 
is  insurmountable.  When  I  had  stated  to  the  governor  the  intelligence  and  the 
civilization  of  the  people,  the  great  services  they  had  rendered  to  the  colony, 
having  defended  it  upon  its  northern  boundary  along  a  line  of  300  miles,  without 
having  cost  the  government  any  thing,  and  the  evils  that  would  arise  were  the 
defence  removed  ; — he  remarked,  that  the  government  at  home  was  always  sus¬ 
picious  of  governors  in  colonies  enlarging  their  boundaries;  that  it  appeared  to 
him  that  civilization  would  in  this  manner  proceed  into  the  interior  of  Africa : 
and  that  if  the  government  were  to  take  into  the  colony  every  new  district  civi¬ 
lized  beyond  its  boundaries,  he  asked,  where  the  limits  of  the  colony  would  end  ? 

The  next  question  which  occurs  to  me,  and  which  I  shall  answer  as  briefly  as 
possible,  is  as  to  the  manner  in  which  we  may  expect  the  gospel  to  proceed  in  its 
advances  over  this  vast  and  benighted  continent.  Reasoning  from  the  circum¬ 
stances  of  this  colony,  from  what  is  to  be  learned  of  the  progress  of  Christianity 
from  history,  arid  from  what  has  come  under  my  own  observation,  my  decided 
opinion  is,  that  the  progress  of  Christianity  in  Africa  must  be  slow;  that  its  light 
must  radiate  from  certain  well  chosen  positions ;  and  that  the  districts  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  the  first  position  chosen,  should  be  enlightened  ;  and  that  eve¬ 
ry  new  missionary  establishment  must  keep  what  has  been  gained,  while  it  is 
extending  its  conquests  in  the  regions  beyond  it.  The  growth  of  Christianity 


26 


in  such  a  country  should  be  like  that  of  an  empire ;  which  is  enriched  and 
strengthened  by  every  inch  of  new  territory,  which  extends  the  line  of  its  fron¬ 
tier.  What  is  gained  is  by  this  means  secured;  and  out  of  the  materials  accu¬ 
mulated  in  this  manner,  the  conquests  still  to  be  made,  become  easy  and  rapid. 
Every  new  village  brought  within  the  pale  of  the  church  increases  her  resources, 
and  adds  to  the  efficiency  of  her  native  agency.  By  this  means,  in  going  forth 
to  fresh  conquests  she  becomes  to  her  enemies  “  bright  as  the  sun,  clear  as  the 
moon,  and  terrible  as  an  army  with  banners.” 

Every  aid  should  be  afforded  by  your  missionary  societies  to  your  new  and 
Interesting  settlement.  By  an  efficient  ministry  and  due  attention  to  the  schools 
of  Liberia,  the  foundation  of  a  future  empire  may  be  laid  in  that  settlement, 
that  may  in  a  short  time  do  much  to  evangelize  the  surrounding  country  to  a 
great  extent.  When  the  government  of  that  country  has  gained  the  confidence 
of  the  nations  beyond  it,  multitudes  of  those  nations  will  put  themselves  under 
its  protection,  and  among  such  people  you  will  find  employment  for  a  large 
body  of  missionaries. 

My  views  on  this  subject  cannot  be  more  happily  expressed  than  they  have 
been  by  one  of  your  own  countrymen,  the  late  Rev.  Sam.  J.  Mills,  in  the  follow¬ 
ing  extract: — “If  by  pursuing  the  object  now  in  view,  a  few  of  the  free  blacks 
of  good  character  could  be  settled  in  any  part  of  the  African  coast,  they  might 
be  the  means  of  introducing  civilization  and  religion  among  the  barbarous  na¬ 
tions  already  there.  Their  settlement  might  increase  gradually,  and  some 
might  in  a  suitable  time  go  out  from  that  settlement,  and  form  others,  and  prove 
the  occasion  of  great  good.” 

The  memoirs  of  that  interesting  man  did  not  come  into  my  hands  till  a  few 
days  ago,  and  till  I  had  written  my  own  sentiments  upon  this  subject.  Men¬ 
tioning  to  a  friend  that  I  was  very  anxious  to  see  something  respecting  the 
settlement  of  Liberia,  the  memoir  of  Mr.  Mills  was  put  into  my  hands,  and  in 
perusing  it  I  was  very  much  struck  with  the  largeness  and  comprehension  of 
Mr.  Mills’  views. 

There  is  so  exact  a  correspondence  between  his  views  as  to  the  best  mode  of 
evangelizing  and  civilizing  Africa,  and  my  own,  that  the  one  seemed  to  me  as 
if  it  were  a  copy  of  the  other.  From  the  first  notice  I  had  of  your  settlement 
of  Liberia  I  contemplated  it  under  the  same  aspects  as  those  under  which  Mr. 
Mills  appeared  to  have  viewed  it,  when  he  was  sacrificing  his  health  and  life 
for  its  establishment.  And  I  cannot  help  feeling  surprised  that  Mr.  Mills  with 
his  opportunities  should  have  arrived  so  soon  at  the  just  conclusions  to  which 
he  had  come  on  this  subject. 

The  whole  of  Mr.  Mills’  memoirs,  (which  I  have  perused  at  one  sitting) 
convinces  me  that  from  your  intercourse  with  the  native  tribes  of  America,  or 
some  other  cause,  that  you  have  much  more  enlarged  views  on  this  subject,  than 
are,  generally  speaking,  to  be  found  in  England.  But  however  far  you  may 
have  got  before  my  countrymen  on  this  point,  you  will  not  be  displeased  to  find 
that  the  fruit  of  14  years  experience  which  I  have  had  in  Africa,  goes  to  con¬ 
firm  all  the  views  of  your  own  enlightened  and  lamented  countryman. 

The  details  I  have  already  given  of  the  history  of  the  Griquas,  while  they  illus¬ 
trate  the  elevating  power  of  Christian  principles,  and  Christian  education,  confirm 
what  I  have  said  as  to  the  manner  in  which  you  may  expect  the  gospel  to  be  pro¬ 
pagated  by  means  of  your  new  and  interesting  colony  on  the  African  continent. 

There  is  another  lesson  which  is  taught  by  them,  that  I  must  notice  in  this 
place.  They  point  out  to  us  the  wisdom  of  making  choice  of  proper  sites  on 
which  to  commence  our  missionary  operations.  A  sea-port  on  the  coast  of  Afri¬ 
ca  is  preferable,  if  it  can  be  obtained,  to  an  inland  situation.  The  only  real 
danger  that  the  Griquas  are  in  at  this  moment,  arises  from  their  contiguity  to 
the  Cape  Colony,  and  their  entire  dependence  upon  it  for  all  the  supplies  to 
which  their  civilization  has  given  rise,  and  without  which  they  cannot  now 


27 


maintain  their  civilization.  Their  services  to  the  colony  have  been  great;  and 
their  removal  from  their  present  situation  would  be  the  greatest  misfortune  that 
ever  happened  to  this  colony.  And  yet  all  those  services  and  all  their  civiliza¬ 
tion,  have  not  been  able  to  eradicate  the  prejudices  of  the  colonists  against 
colour. 

The  following  anecdote  will  illustrate  to  jrnu  my  meaning.  Some  time  ago 
the  Griquas  presented  a  petition  to  the  colonial  government,  setting  forth  the 
injuries  they  received  from  the  Boers  coming  over  the  river,  and  depasturing  the 
country,  &c.,  &c.,  and  they  requested  that  if  this  practice  was  to  be  continued, 
the  Boers  might  be  directed  by  the  colonial  government  to  make  application  to 
the  local  authorities  among  the  Griquas,  who  would  show  them  where  they 
might  pasture  their  herds  and  flocks,  without  trespassing  on  the  property  of  in¬ 
dividuals.  In  a  newspaper  in  which  this  petition  is*recorded,  and  on  the  mar¬ 
gin  of  the  paper  opposite  to  the  humble  request  which  concludes  the  above 
extract,  some  one  has  written,  “Matchless  impudence!” — Handing  the  paper  to 
a  gentleman  standing  by,  and  at  the  same  time  directing  his  attention  to  the 
request  of  the  Griquas  over  against  it,  he  remarked. — “The  writer  has  express¬ 
ed  only  the  general  feeling  with  which  such  a  request  from  such  a  people  must 
be  regarded.” — Had  the  Griquas  been  situated  at  Port  Natal,  or  at  any  other 
place  similarly  situated;  what  might  we  not  have  expected  ? 

I  will  not  point  out  to  you  the  difference  to  the  continent  of  Africa  between 
colonies  of  civilized  white  men  and  civilized  black  men.  There  appears  to  be 
existing  in  this  day  a  prejudice  in  the  breasts  of  white  men  against  black  men, 
which  nothing  short  of  a  divine  power  can  remove,  and  till  black  men  are 
civilized,  and  till  they  rise  to  a  level  with  us,  we  have  no  reason,  in  the  present 
state  of  human  nature,  to  expect  white  colonists  will  either  tfegard  or  treat  them 
as  fellow  creatures.  Contempt,  the  parent  of  so  much  cruelty  and  injustice  to  the 
coloured  people,  appears  to  have  arisen  with  the  practice  of  making  slaves  of 
black  men  exclusively,  and  it  gives  us  a  frightful  view  of  human  nature,  that 
the  injuries  we  have  done  to  that  race  of  men  should  be  the  ground  of  our  hatred 
against  them :  and  that  that  hatred  should  be  evident,  in  proportion  to  the 
cruelty  and  injustice  they  have  suffered  at  our  hands. 

The  evil  is  not,  however,  incurable.  The  first  step  to  reconcile  white  men 
to  men  of  colour  is  to  endeavour  to  raise  the  latter  above  that  degraded  state  to 
which  our  injustice  has  reduced  them:  and  as  our  sons,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  will 
be  more  innocent  with  regard  to  crimes  such  as  have  been  committed  against 
Africa,  than  we  are,  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  they  will  cherish  towards  them  a 
more  kindly  feeling  than  we  do.  There  were  no  prejudices  against  colour 
when  Egypt  was  the  cradle  of  literature  and  science,  nor  even  in  the  days 
when  the  Grecian  and  Roman  republics  were  in  their  glory,  and  those  prejudices 
will  most  certainly  pass  away,  as  the  principles  of  the  Gospel  become  more  ef¬ 
fective  on  the  minds  of  white  and  black  men. 

If  any  man  were  to  ask  me  the  question.  What  is  Christianity  doing  for 
the  world  that  Infidelity  is  not  doing?  I  would  point  to  Mills  &  Burgess,  and 
the  friends  and  zealous  supporters  of  the  Liberian  settlement;  and  ask  another 
question  in  reply. — Whether  there  was  any  difference  between  the  men  I  have 
named  and  the  abettors  of  slavery,  and  the  captains  of  slave  ships?  Africa, 
the  present  state  of  the  continent  of  Africa,  from  one  extremity  to  the  other, 
furnishes  the  best  answer  to  that  question.  On  the  one  hand  we  see  men  agree¬ 
ing  in  their  hatred  of  vital  religion,  pouring  their  contempt  and  scorn  upon 
every  thing  that  bears  the  name  evangelical ,  using  the  word  saint  as  a  term 
of  bitter  reproach;  like  so  many  birds  of  prey  hovering  over  Africa,  and  ready 
to  destroy  all  those  that  would  throw  a  protecting  shield  over  the  victims  they 
have  marked  out  for  destruction  : — and  on  the  other  hand  we  see  men  of  the 
same  complexion,  of  the  same  nation,  perhaps  belonging  to  the  same  families, 
spending  their  means,  sacrificing  their  health  and  comfort,  enduring  the  con- 


28 


tumelies  and  scorn  of  their  fellow  men,  and  risking  and  even  giving  up  their 
lives,  to  save  and  protect  from  destruction  the  helpless  objects  the  others  are  im¬ 
patient  to  devour.  Can  we  conceive  of  a  greater  contrast  under  heaven  ?  Can 
we  conceive  of  a  greater  contrast  in  the  invisible  world  than  this  picture  pre¬ 
sents  to  our  view — You  have  probably  seen  by  this  time,  through  the  medium 
of  some  of  our  English  periodicals  that  we  have  done  something  in  Africa  to¬ 
wards  the  establishment  of  Temperance  Societies.  The  opposition  we  have 
had  to  encounter,  and  still  have  to  contend  against  in  this  good  work,  has  been 
very  great,  and  it  can  scarcely  be  said  to  be  lessened.  But  the  partial  success 
that  has  attended  our  humble  endeavours  is  matter  of  great  thankfulness.  The 
Pharisees  and  Sadducees  among  us,  like  their  prototypes  of  old,  reject  all  these 
things;  and  the  despised  Heathen  (a  designation  given  to  all  people  of  colour, 
for  in  this  colony  we  allow  none  but  white  men  to  be  Christians)  receive  them. 

Our  Infant  School  system,  and  the  cause  of  the  Temperance  Society  have 
their  warmest  friends  among  the  very  highest,  and  what  are  called  the  lowest 
grades  of  society.  The  Governor  and  his  lady,  and  a  few  others  at  the  head  of 
our  Society,  and  the  Hottentots,  agree  in  thinking  Infant  Schools  and  Temper¬ 
ance  Societies  most  excellent  things.  But  the  intermediate  grades  among  the 
white  population,  wTith  the  exception  of  a  few  individuals,  see  nothing  in  them 
that  they  themselves  or  their  children  stand  in  need  of  to  improve  them.  “  We 
are  all  sober  people  here”  said  a  merchant  at  our  last  public  meeting  of  the 
Temperance  Society — “we  stand  in  no  need  of  Temperance  Societies:  I 
drink  as  much  as  my  neighbours,  and  I  do  not  drink  more  than  six  bottles  of 
claret  after  dinner.” 

At  our  missionary  institutions  we  have  found  Temperance  Societies  to  be 
what  a  person  at  one  of  our  mission  stations  called  them,  John  the  Baptists > 
“They  are  (said  he)  sent  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  kingdom  of  God.”  Our 
missionaries  have  found  them  to  be  the  most  valuable  auxiliaries  in  promoting 
the  cause  of  God  that  we  have  ever  had  in  Africa.  We  have  Temperance  So¬ 
cieties  at  each  of  our  missionary  stations,  and  I  believe  there  are  very  few  of  our 
people  that  do  not  belong  to  them,  and  conform  to  their  rules.  At  the  new  set¬ 
tlement  of  the  Kat  River,  we  have  1400  members  belonging  to  the  Temperance 
Society  established  in  that  district.  I  shall  if  possible  get  you  a  copy  of  the 
speeches  of  the  Hottentots  at  the  last  anniversary  meeting  of  the  Temperance 
Society  at  that  place  ;  which  will  give  you  a  better  idea  of  the  benefits  the  Tem¬ 
perance  Society  has  conferred  upon  that  people  than  any  thing  1  can  say. 

If  the  greatness  of  an  individual  is  to  be  estimated  by  the  mass  of  mind  on 
which  he  operates,  and  the  benefits  he  is  enabled  to  confer  on  mankind,  perhaps 
Dr.  Beecher  may  be  considered  as  the  greatest  of  all  your  great  men.  Whatever 
doubt  there  may  be  in  America  on  this  point,  this  much  is  certain,  that  the  Hot¬ 
tentots  in  South  Africa  know  of  no  greater  man  than  Dr.  Beecher,  and  consider 
him  as  entitled  to  one  of  the  first  places  in  the  list  of  their  benefactors. 

During  my  late  journey,  I  was  some  months  beyond  the  Great  River,  without 
any  communication  with  my  family.  But  my  wife  had  taken  care  to  forward 
your  letter  to  me,  that  I  might  receive  it  as  soon  as  possible,  and  while  I  was 
travelling  among  our  missionary  stations  on  my  way  to  Cape  Town,  my  long 
absence  from  home  and  the  business  which  I  had  at  Cape  Town  pressing  my  in¬ 
stant  return,  prevented  me  from  having  it  in  my  power  to  reply  to  it  then,  but  l 
took  the  opportunity  of  reading  it  to  the  people  at  the  different  missionary  sta¬ 
tions  on  my  road;  and  it  was  the  occasion  of  much  refreshing  to  the  missiona¬ 
ries  and  to  the  people.  The  poor  Hottentots  were  greatly  rejoiced  at  the 
accounts  you  have  given  us  of  the  success  of  the  Gospel  in  America ;  and  it 
was  deeply  interesting  to  observe  how  their  countenances  brightened  up,  when  I 
read  to  them  that  passage  in  which  you  give  an  account  of  the  Temperance 
Societies  in  America,  and  make  it  a  question,  “  Whether  it  would  not  be  possi¬ 
ble  to  introduce  them  among  the  Hottentots  ?” 


29 


The  great  danger  in  commencing  a  mission  or  missions  in  Central  Africa, 
will  be  in  attempting  to  do  too  much  at  once,  and  to  spread  jour  energies  over 
too  wide  a  field.  Men  of  lively  fancies,  and  many  sober  minded  men,  in  the 
commencement  of  a  great  work,  disdain  to  have  their  views  confined  within 
narrow  limits.  They  would  illuminate  the  banks  of  the  Niger  with  the  light  of 
Divine  truth  as  the  people  in  London  illuminate  the  banks  of  the  Thames  with 
gas  lights.  Disgusted  with  the  difficulties  and  slowness  of  the  process  at  home 
among  the  lower  orders  of  the  people  in  London  and  in  other  large  cities,  or  in 
many  parts  of  the  country,  their  minds  sweep  over  hundreds  and  thousands  of 
miles  at  once  ;  and  they  expect  from  single  and  solitary  missionaries,  what 
thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of  clergymen  and  ministers  of  different  deno¬ 
minations,  together  with  100,000  active  Christians,  are  not  able  to  effect  among 
a  scanty  population  compared  to  the  Heathen  world. 

The  machinery  necessary  for  the  introduction  and  preservation  of  civilization 
among  a  people  is  elaborate  and  expensive.  Judges,  magistrates,  prisons,  police¬ 
men,  lawyers,  schoolmasters,  printing,  and  all  the  vast  apparatus  of  a  civilized 
country,  require  pecuniary  resources,  and  resources  of  that  nature  cannot  exist 
without  government,  and  where  there  is  no  civilization  there  can  be  no  govern¬ 
ment  favourable  to  religion  and  virtue.  In  Africa  the  people  have  to  be  formed, 
before  they  can  be  brought  together  into  civilized  communities ;  the  resources 
necessary  to  begin,  to  carry  on,  and  complete  the  civilizing  process,  have  to  be 
created  ;  a  new  world  must  be  opened  to  them,  and  a  new  class  of  motives  must 
be  brought  to  operate  upon  their  minds ;  the  most  inveterate  of  all  habits  must 
be  rooted  out,  and  new  habits  imparted,  before  the  natives  of  Africa  can  have 
primers,  school  lessons,  and  schools  and  bibles,  and  the  stated  ministrations  of  an 
Evangelical  ministry,  fixed  among  them.  If  we  cannot  get  our  friends  in  Eu¬ 
rope  to  see  the  importance  of  such  an  apparatus  for  securing  the  effects  of  the 
gospel  among  a  people,  how  are  we  to  expect  this  enlargement  of  mind  from  a 
people  just  emerging  from  a  savage  or  barbarous  life  ?  When  the  power  of  the 
gospel  is  seen  in  England  in  raising  a  brutish  mind  to  a  concern  for  the  sal¬ 
vation  of  the  soul,  do  we  expect  that  this  concern  will  be  at  once  attended  with 
all  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit,  and  that  it  will  at  once  supply  all  the  defects  arising 
from  an  imperfect  education,  or  from  what  may  have  been  a  state  of  brutal 
ignorance?  It  may  be  asked  then,  On  what  principle  is  it  expected  that 
savages  and  barbarians  are  to  rise  up  all  at  once,  with  those  tastes  and  views  to 
enable  them  to  form  themselves  into  societies,  that  will  unite  in  themselves  all 
those  qualities  and  regulations,  which  are  the  richest  fruits  of  an  advanced  civi. 
fixation?  It  is  a  curious  fact,  that  the  native  converts  in  Africa,  who  have  the 
fewest  artificial  wants,  are  the  least  useful  to  us  in  our.churches ;  and  that  we 
never  expect  that  they  will  be  at  much  expense  to  promote  the  cause  of  God, 
till  their  tastes  and  benevolence  are  improved  by  the  increase  of  their  own  social 
comforts.  It  is  not  our  object  merely  to  raise  up  single  institutions  in  Africa, 
and  to  cultivate  a  few  individuals  as  specimens  of  what  may  be  done  with 
Africans;  but  to  diffuse  abroad  over  the  whole  continent  the  blessings  of  reli¬ 
gion;  and  this  never  can  be  done  unless  the  body  of  the  people  among  whom  we 
labour  shall  be  raised  in  the  scale  of  intellect  and  morals,  by  the  application  of 
a  judicious  system  of  means. 

From  the  period  I  first  became  acquainted  with  my  condition  before  God,  and 
the  adaptation  of  the  religion  of  Christ  to  my  moral  necessities,  I  was  satisfied 
that  the  spirit  of  the  Gospel  was  a  missionary  spirit :  and  that  without  this 
spirit  we  could  have  no  sympathy  wdth  the  spirit  of  the  New  Testament.  Under 
the  influence  of  this  principle  I  considered  it  my  duty,  from  the  commencement 
of  my  Christian  progress,  to  lend  my  assistance  to  the  cause  of  missions  But 
while  I  was  actively  employed  in  promoting  the  interest  of  the  cause  of  mis¬ 
sions  at  home,  I  sought  in  vain  in  the  publications  of  the  day,  for  a  satisfactory 
knowledge  of  the  real  character  of  this  work  among  the  heathen,  and  more 


30 


particularly  in  savage  and  barbarous  countries.  I  could  never  reconcile  in  tfty 
own  mind  the  difficulties  which  had  in  all  ages  attended  any  attempts  to  civilize 
barbarous  tribes  and  the  slow  progress  of  society,  with  the  ideas  generally  pre¬ 
valent  in  Great  Britain  among  many  of  the  warmest  and  most  intelligent 
friends  of  the  missionary  cause,  as  to  the  qualifications  necessary  in  missionaries 
to  human  beings  in  this  state  of  society.  The  notion  which  every  where  pre¬ 
vailed  was,  that  provided  men  have  piety,  it  was  not  of  importance  what  the 
talents  of  missionaries  were,  designed  for  Africa.  I  was  satisfied  that  if  our 
missionary  societies  were  labouring  under  an  error  on  this  subject,  that  that  error 
might  prove  the  prolific  source  of  many  other  errors,  which  might  ultimately  oc¬ 
casion  the  failure  of  all  our  benevolent  plans,  and  the  destruction  of  all  our 
prospects.  My  apprehensions  on  this  subject  were  greatly  strengthened  by  the 
occasion  which  called  for  the  visit  of  the  Deputation :  and  the  consolation  which 
supported  me  under  the  sacrifice  I  had  to  make  in  leaving  an  important  and 
much  loved  sphere  of  usefulness  at  home,  was  the  hope,  that  if  I  should  do  no 
more  by  visiting  Africa  than  bring  home  correct  views  on  this  subject  my  labours 
and  sufferings,  and  even  the  loss  of  life  itself  would  be  amply  repaid  by  the 
evils  I  might  be  the  means  of  preventing. 

Were  I  at  this  moment  in  England  or  America,  I  should  be  most  anxious  to 
have  this  subject  freely  and  fully  discussed  in  all  the  public  journals;  and  it  is 
my  decided  opinion,  that  should  your  Society  do  no  more  than  call  the  public  at¬ 
tention  to  it,  it  will  be  the  means  of  doing  the  greatest  service  to  the  cause 
of  missions. 

To  heal  the  wounds  of  Africa — to  remove  the  evils  generated  on  this  unhappy 
continent  by  the  nefarious  slave  trade — to  raise  minds  long  embruted  by  the 
avarice  and  cruel  selfishness  of  civilized  nations — to  cover  Africa  with  Chris¬ 
tian  churches  and  Christian  schools — and  to  conduct  the  process  of  civiliza¬ 
tion  from  the  first  germination  of  the  seed  in  the  mind  of  individuals,  till  it  shall 
cover  with  its  shade  and  enrich  with  its  fruits  the  moral  wastes  of  this  deso¬ 
lated  quarter  of  the  globe — is  an  undertaking  worthy  of  the  zeal  and  benevo¬ 
lence  of  your  churches.  And  as  much  of  your  future  success  will,  under  the 
blessing  of  God,  depend  on  the  character  of  the  agency  you  may  employ,  and 
the  wisdom  of  the  measures  you  may  adopt,  you  cannot  do  me  a  greater  plea¬ 
sure  than  to  make  any  demands  upon  my  experience  you  may  choose  to  call 
for.  Question  me  freely  on  every  point  on  which  you  wish  for  additional  illus¬ 
tration  or  information.  Let  me  have  all  the  objections  which  the  intelligent 
friends  of  missions  have  to  urge  against  my  views.  State  fully  all  the  difficul¬ 
ties  you  may  suppose  one  in  Africa  alone  or  in  company  with  other  missionaries, 
would  have  to  encounter  in  carrying  my  views  into  practice ;  and  I  pledge  my¬ 
self,  if  the  Lord  spare  me  and  continue  my  health,  to  give  you  my  sentiments 
upon  all  those  subjects,  and  every  other  connected  with  missions,  on  which  you 
may  wish  to  have  my  opinions. 

I  have  the  honour  to  be,  my  dear  Sir, 

Your  unworthy,  and  much  obliged  fellow  labourer  in  the  work  of  the  Lord, 

JOHN  PHILIP. 

P.  S.  The  present  communication  has  been  got  up  in  great  haste,  and  is,  as  I 
am  sensible,  susceptible  of  great  improvement,  particularly  in  the  arrangement; 
but  the  opinions  I  have  ventured  to  give  you,  have  been  adopted  after  much  con¬ 
sideration  and  a  course  of  experience,  now  not  short.  My  views  did  not  come 
to  me  by  intuition;  so  long  was  I  in  Africa  before  I  came  to  my  present  conclu¬ 
sions  on  man}'' important  points,  respecting  the  difficulties  attending  our  attempts 
to  evangelize  Africa,  and  what  I  conceive  to  be  the  best  mode  of  conducting 
those  attempts,  that  had  I  returned  to  England  after  having  been  two  years  here, 
as  was  my  first  intention;  and  had  1  on  my  return  published  any  thing  upon 
this  subject,  I  feel  certain  that  my  voyage  to  this  place,  or  what  I  might  have 


31 


■written,  would  have  been  of  little  or  no  use  to  the  church  of  God.  My  only  apo¬ 
logy  for  the  unwarrantable  length  of  this  letter,  is,  the  paramount  importance  of 
the  subjects  and  the  cordial  desires  I  feel  to  guard  the  American  churches, 
against  the  evils  which  have  resulted  from  the  ignorance  which  prevails  in  Eng¬ 
land  on  the  subject  of  missions  to  Africa,  and  which  are  not  yet  over  with  us  in 
South  Africa.  It  is  matter  of  great  thankfulness  to  see  such  men  as  Platt  in 
the  South  Seas,  who  under  God  have  been  the  means  of  preserving  the  cause 
among  the  islands  in  that  quarter  of  the  Globe  ;  but  it  is  humbling  to  think  how 
little  of  it  is  due  to  our  directors  in  sending  out  such  men,  and  to  see  the  vast 
sums  of  money  thrown  away  to  no  purpose  in  this  cause  in  other  places,  for  want 
of  an  efficient  and  wise  agency. 

I  beg  you  will  remember  me  very  affectionately  to  your  Professors  and  to  the 
dear  young  men  whose  hearts  have  been  touched  by  the  Grace  of  God,  and  who 
are  desirous  of  the  missionary  work.  Should  any  of  your  countrymen  come  to 
Port  Natal,  to  De  la  Goa  Bay,  or  to  go  to  Mosalekatsi,  and  land  at  the  Cape  on 
the  voyage,  you  will  have  the  goodness  to  assure  them,  that  it  will  give  me  the 
greatest  pleasure  to  receive  them  under  my  roof,  and  to  do  all  for  them  in  my 
power.  J.  P. 


